User preferences
Understanding user needs and preferences is critical to underline what works and what could be improved. Some commonly reported
challenges according to a study of blind participants by Lazar et al. are: 1) page layouts causing confusing screen-reader
feedback; 2) conflict between screen reader and application; 3) poorly designed or unlabelled forms; 4) no alternative text
for pictures or poor image-recognition capabilities; and 5) three-way tie between misleading links, inaccessible documents
(such as portable document files or PDFs), and screen-reader crashes.
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Screen-reader user preferences are described in the WebAIM annual user surveys, which are often used as a source of information.
The most recent iteration from 2021 is based on 1,568 responses from participants from North America (57.7 per cent), Europe
(23.5 per cent) and Asia (8.2 per cent). A few key insights are noted below:
- No ‘one size fits all’: There has been an increasing trend among users reporting using multiple screen readers. This might
indicate that there may be distinct utility to different screen readers (some might work better for web vs eBooks vs documents
etc.) and no single screen reader currently on the market is able to meet all their needs/requirements.
- Multiple screen readers: Most respondents (71.3 per cent) use more than one desktop/laptop screen reader. This was up from
53 per cent in July 2015 and 68 per cent in 2017; 39 per cent use three or more, and 15.9 per cent use four or more different
screen readers.
- Accessibility remains heterogenous: Content is not uniformly accessible using screen readers. While the Internet of Things
is critical that content accessibility guidelines be customized across content type (web content, eBooks, digital documents)
there is also a need for screen reader software to improve capability to deal with a wider array of content types, especially
among different digital documents.
- Increased accessibility of web content: 39.3 per cent of participants feel that web content has become more accessible in
the past year. However, 42.3 per cent say there have been no changes made to web content accessibility. 18.5 per cent of screen
reader users state web content has become less accessible since 2020.
- Mobile vs. desktop: While desktops remain the primary way people use screen readers, they are increasingly being used on mobile
devices. Further, for many common tasks (banking, shopping etc.) , mobile apps may be preferred over websites. This highlights
the need for device specific screen reader customization/software, as well as the need for better integration between different
software and devices across a user.
- 90 per cent of surveyed screen reader users use screen readers on their mobile devices. WebAIM also notes this number has
increased over the last 12 years. They also note that participants with disabilities (91.6 per cent) are more likely to use
a mobile screen reader compared to individuals surveyed without disabilities (71.4 per cent).
- Respondents indicated that they are slightly more likely to use a mobile app than a web site for common online tasks. The
preference for mobile app usage increased to 51.8 per cent in 2021, up from 50.8 per cent in 2019 and 46 per cent in 2017.
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