System sounds

Hardware checkpoint 5.1

Provide keyboard equivalents for all navigator actions.

Rationale

Many systems use the speaker to announce warnings or errors to the user. A user who is deaf or hard of hearing will not be able to hear and respond to the warning. Systems need to provide an interface so that software can provide an alternative method of providing the information.

Development techniques

The following technique is the minimum required to meet checkpoint 5.1 from the IBM Hardware Accessibility Checklist:

Provide an interface to system sounds (alerts, hardware-generated beeps)for software use.

The technique above is required; the following technique is recommended to enhance accessibility:

Provide a visual equivalent of the system sound such as displaying the warning on the screen. If you flash the screen to indicate an alert has occurred, avoid flash rates between 2 Hz and 55 Hz that may affect people with photo sensitive epilepsy.

Testing techniques

Test the hardware to ensure that it complies with accessibility requirements.

Tools

No tools are needed to test this checkpoint:

Techniques

*One or more of the following techniques are **required** to verify this checkpoint:*
	Action	Result
1	Verify that there is an interface between system sounds and software. Verify through inspection of the specification and software test cases.	Pass: Specification defines an interface between system sounds and software. Software test cases successfully demonstrate that each sound is available to software. Fail: Specification fails to define an interface between system sounds and software. Software test cases can not successfully demonstrate that each sound is available to software.

Last updated February 22, 2008.

Checklist