- Success Criterion 1.4.2
- Conformance level A
Mute Button That’s Present but Not Easy to Reach
1.4.2 — Audio Control
Scenario
Setting
A recipe site's ingredient list
What’s wrong
"Mute" control present but placed after long content / not keyboard reachable / not first in page code (DOM) order (mechanism effectively unavailable — interacts with 2.1.1).
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
Try to find and activate the mute control immediately after audio starts: if it's placed far down the page, not reachable by keyboard, or not the first interactive element, 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 recipe site's ingredient list, 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
- Background Music That Autostarts With No Visible Player
- 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