• Success Criterion 1.4.2
  • Conformance level A

Looping Notification Sound With No Way to Turn It Off

1.4.2 — Audio Control

Scenario

Setting

A dating app's profile setup

What’s wrong

Notification sounds looping >3s with no setting to disable.

Example 

setInterval(() => new Audio("ding.mp3").play(), 5000);
// the "preview your match sound" step in profile setup loops the ding every 5 seconds instead of playing it once, with no settings toggle to stop it

Why it matters

A new user previewing their match notification sound during profile setup can't concentrate on writing their bio, because the preview chime repeats every five seconds with no visible way to stop it.

How to test

Trigger a notification sound and time it: if it loops for more than 3 seconds with no setting to disable it, it fails.

How to fix

Play the notification sound once when the user taps a Preview button instead of auto-looping it every five seconds with no way to stop it; default any sound that must play automatically to off, or add a visible toggle in settings before it ever loops past three seconds.

document.getElementById("preview-sound-btn").addEventListener("click", () => {
  new Audio("ding.mp3").play();
});

Outcome

The user taps the preview button once, hears the chime a single time, and finishes their profile without a repeating sound running in the background.

Who is affected

Users with attention-related or sensory-processing conditions, who find a sound that loops indefinitely especially disruptive during a task like profile setup.

Learn more

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