8.3.1 What You Can Hear ¶
Aural Presentation combines these forms of feedback:
- Speech conveys content, labels, prompts, results, and status. Added speech
should explain meaning not already clear from the content.
- Voice changes characteristics of spoken content. Named voices make
distinctions such as headings, annotations, warnings, or quoted text
portable across engines.
- Auditory cues, also called earcons or auditory icons, are short sounds
associated with events or objects. Sound packs supply recordings for cue names.
- Tones convey compact information using a pitch and duration, without
requiring sampled sound or a spoken explanation.
- Pauses separate related parts without adding words.
- Spatial presentation places speech or cues across supported output. A
backend unable to provide requested placement keeps content audible through
its documented fallback.
These can be ordered around content. Entering a section might play a cue,
speak its heading in a distinctive voice, and leave a pause before body text.
The presentation is one result, not unrelated notifications. Its precise sound
depends on engines, installed voices, sound pack, and hardware. The intended
distinction should remain understandable when a simpler backend offers fewer
voice characteristics or centred output.