- Success Criterion 1.4.2
- Conformance level A
Background Music That Autostarts With No Visible Player
1.4.2 — Audio Control
Scenario
Setting
A grocery delivery app's shopping cart
What’s wrong
Background music autostarting on load with controls hidden (controls removed, custom player provides none).
Example
<audio src="intro.mp3" autoplay></audio>Why it matters
Screen-reader users competing with page audio, and people with auditory sensitivity.
How to test
Load the page: if background music starts playing automatically and there's no visible player/mute control at all, it fails.
How to fix
Audio must not autoplay beyond 3 seconds without an obvious, keyboard-usable pause/stop/volume control.
<audio src="intro.mp3" autoplay controls></audio>Autoplaying audio past 3 seconds needs a visible, reachable way to pause, stop, or lower its volume.
Outcome
On a grocery delivery app's shopping cart, this barrier is gone for screen-reader users competing with page audio — they no longer have to work around this.
Who is affected
Screen-reader users competing with page audio, and people with auditory sensitivity.
Learn more
- Understanding Understanding document (opens in a new tab)
Related scenarios
- Page Audio That Autoplays Past 3 Seconds With No Control
- Autoplaying Video or Audio With No Way to Pause It
- Autoplaying Hero Video With Sound and No Pause Button
- Embedded Ad or Carousel iframe That Starts Playing Audio
- Audio That Starts on a Single-Page-App Route Change
- Looping Notification Sound With No Way to Turn It Off