• Success Criterion 1.4.2
  • Conformance level A

Embedded Ad or Carousel iframe That Starts Playing Audio

1.4.2 — Audio Control

Scenario

Setting

A food delivery app's restaurant menu

What’s wrong

Carousel/ads iframes that start audio — hosting page provides no page-level control.

Example

A food delivery app's restaurant menu shows the problem clearly: carousel/ads iframes that start audio — hosting page provides no page-level control.

Why it matters

Screen-reader users competing with page audio, and people with auditory sensitivity. Here, on a food delivery app's restaurant menu, the result is they can't tell what the image or video is showing.

How to test

Load the page: if an embedded iframe (ad, carousel) starts playing audio and the hosting page offers no way to stop it, it fails.

How to fix

Audio must not autoplay beyond 3 seconds without an obvious, keyboard-usable pause/stop/volume control.

Outcome

After the fix, the same visitor to a food delivery app's restaurant menu can now get the same information as everyone else.

Who is affected

Screen-reader users competing with page audio, and people with auditory sensitivity.

Learn more