Re: Sound and Sonification Issues and Inconsistencies
Re: Sound and Sonification Issues and Inconsistencies
- Subject: Re: Sound and Sonification Issues and Inconsistencies
- From: Chris Fleizach via Accessibility-dev <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 29 May 2023 22:45:26 -0700
Hi
Responses inline
> On May 11, 2023, at 12:45 PM, Taliesin Love Smith via Accessibility-dev
> <email@hidden> wrote:
>
> Dear Apple Devs who care and know about accessibility and inclusion,
>
> Our team at PhET Interactive Simulations designs and implements inclusive
> features
> <https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/filter?type=html,prototype&a11yFeatures=accessibility>
> for highly interactive learning tools.
>
> We find that the changing policies at Apple are having general adverse
> effects on the inclusive experiences we carefully design for learners who use
> our HTML5 simulations. When learners use the simulations with Apple products
> like Safari, Safari + VoiceOver, or Safari + iOS VoiceOver, they can can run
> into trouble.
>
> The most recent issue is that sound no longer plays when a learner moves a
> slider or movable object in a simulation. The learner must first press a
> button in the simulation. How is a sonified slider, or moving object any
> different from a sonified button? All are interactive elements and all make
> sounds. A learner is choosing to interact, and we feel they should be getting
> the full experience of the interaction. Learners have a clear option to turn
> off the sounds if they do not want to hear them.
>
This is an issue that will be fixed in an upcoming release.
> In addition, this latest change to how Safari handles sounds makes for a very
> inconsistent user experience in many contexts. At first the slider or moving
> object won’t make sounds, but then they will make sounds after pressing a
> button. This is not good design, nor is it inclusive design.
>
> Is there a work around for this issue? We want all our sounds to work when
> interacting as we have designed them to work.
>
> Sincerely,
> Taliesin Smith
>
> PS
> I have a few other issues. I invite you to try them out:
> With iOS VoiceOver - some toggle buttons no longer work. This is a serious
> problem in Molecules and Light
> <https://bayes.colorado.edu/dev/html/molecules-and-light/1.5.21/phet/molecules-and-light_en_phet.html>.
> I cannot turn the Light Source to an on position. Blind learners cannot use
> their phones or iPads to access this sim. The sim works fine with MacOS
> VoiceOver.
This looks to be a tricky issue for us to resolve. The button in question
implements a custom event handler that is toggling the state on, then off again.
When VoiceOver activates a button, it sends a different sequence of events from
a mouse click. We think you’re going to have to investigate why the handler is
not handling it the same way
Non VoiceOver event sequence
pointerover
pointerenter
pointerdown
touchstart
gotpointercapture
pointerup
lostpointercapture
pointerout
pointerleave
touchend
mouseover
mouseenter
mousemove
mousedown
mouseup
click
VoiceOver event sequence
focus
pointerover
pointerenter
pointerdown
touchstart
mouseover
mouseenter
gotpointercapture
pointerup
lostpointercapture
mouseout
mouseleave
pointerout
pointerleave
touchend
mousedown
mouseup
click
> With iOS VoiceOver custom grab and drag interactions were also broken, but I
> just checked again and these custom drag interactions look like they may be
> working again, see Balloons and Static Electricity
> <https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/balloons-and-static-electricity/latest/balloons-and-static-electricity_all.html>
> and Friction
> <https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/friction/latest/friction_all.html>.
> Thanks for fixing this. They weren’t working for a very long time. I last
> checked in January 2023. I’ll request these sims be republished with this
> important feature. This means they have to go through our quality assurance
> process again which takes up valuable resources for a non-profit.
> With MacOS VoiceOver, an annoying sound plays when I activate a custom
> interaction like the Yellow Balloon in Balloons and Static Electricity
> <https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/balloons-and-static-electricity/latest/balloons-and-static-electricity_all.html>.
> Is there a way to turn the sound off? We have our own sonifications.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to prevent the default sounds with VoiceOver at
this time using existing web API.
>
> Again sincerely,
> Taliesin Smith
>
>
> ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
> Taliesin L. Smith
> email@hidden <mailto:email@hidden>
>
> Inclusive Design Research Specialist
> PhET Interactive Simulations
> http://phet.colorado.edu/
> Department of Physics
> University of Colorado, Boulder
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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