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Accessibility Industry Update: October 2024

Home » Blogs/Events » Accessibility Industry Update: October 2024

With another month in the books, it’s time for the next edition of the QualityLogic accessibility industry update.

Though the weather might be cooling down, the accessibility scene refuses to follow suit. Inside this month’s edition, we have:

  • New rules on video communication and meeting software from the FCC, hot off the press
  • A legal analysis to guide corporations toward EAA compliance
  • Discussion around the accessibility of polling in the upcoming U.S. election
  • Apple dropped iOS 18 with long awaited accessibility features
  • October is a big month for accessibility conferences

As always, let us know if you think we’ve missed something, or share the link with your colleagues or partners who may benefit from some or all of this information. You can also sign up to receive these accessibility updates via email.

The FCC Adopts Rules to Improve Access to Video Conferencing Services

On September 26, 2024, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted new rules that strengthened its stance on the accessibility of video conferencing software. 

To fully grasp what this means, we should rewind to August 2023 (a little over a year ago) when the FCC clarified that interoperable video conferencing service (IVCS) platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc., are governed by dedicated FCC accessibility requirements for advanced services and equipment. This effectively made it a violation of federal law (specifically the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, CVAA) to require the use of video conferencing software that is not accessible to people with cognitive and physical impairments. 

Today that measure is taken a step further to ensure “accurate and synchronous captions; enable connection to third-party captioning and sign language interpretation services; and allow IVCS users to independently activate and adjust the display of captions, speakers, and signers and other features for which user control is necessary for accessibility.” In other words (taken from the commissioner’s statement), “This means that a deaf user will be able to pin their interpreter, for example, and a low vision user will have greater control over screen reader functionality.” 

How did we get here? 

In short? COVID. If the pandemic did one thing, it got us pretty used to glancing at virtual backgrounds via video conferencing software. When stay-at-home orders took over, asynchronous online meetings became the new norm in a matter of days. One unintended consequence of this rapid shift was that countless professionals and students were forced into picking up software that was difficult, if not downright impossible, for them to use on account of accessibility limitations, resulting in a reduced or diminished capacity to contribute to the conversation. This latest update is the FCC stepping in to set the record straight: “everyone should have a voice at the table here.” 

Apple Drops iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia

On September 16, Apple released the next major versions of their flagship operating systems (iOS and macOS) to the public.

Here are the new accessibility features we’re particularly excited about: 

  • Music Haptics makes it possible for those who are deaf or hard of hearing to experience music in a new way by taking advantage of the onboard haptic engine to match the rhythm and intensity of beats to vibrations. Right now, it works with Apple Music and Shazam, and is expected to roll out for more third-party apps in the coming days. 
  • Eye tracking lets you control iOS without the need to touch the screen. Simply enable it in Accessibility settings, calibrate the feature to your eyes, and track controls using the on-screen pointer that shows up surrounding each of the items that can be clicked. To select something, maintain a steady gaze and wait for the dwell timer (the circle) to fill. More complex gestures can also be performed by enabling the assistive touch menu. 
  • Vocal Shortcuts can now be set up to activate shortcuts, or basically any action of your choosing. Just go to Settings -> Accessibility -> Vocal shortcuts, click Setup -> Continue, decide on an action or Siri request, and record yourself saying it so the recognition is accurate. At any time, just say the phrase, and your device will do what you told it to. 
  • Listen for Atypical Speech uses onboard artificial intelligence and a personalized voice profile to understand what is being said, primarily for the use of people with acquired or progressive conditions that affect speech like cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke, etc. This feature has been around since iOS 17 (September 2023) but iOS 18 improves it significantly. 
  • AirPods Siri Interactions let the wearer respond to Siri announcements, like incoming messages, by nodding yes or shaking their head no. 
  • Vehicle motion cues add dots to the screen that move along with the car to reduce motion sickness while not inhibiting content being displayed. 
  • CarPlay sound recognition alerts those who are deaf or hard of hearing, and who have a supported product, to important auditory cues including honking cars and sirens. 
  • The built-in magnifier app now makes it possible to extract text from scanned images. 
  • There is now the ability to dim bright flashing lights that appear in multimedia content. 
  • Voice Control now works with custom vocabularies and complex words. 
  • Hover Typing shows larger text when typing in a text field, and in a user’s preferred font and color. 
  • Personal Voice will make it easier for users to make custom voices. Cutting down on the time and sentences needed to do so. 

VoiceOver

  • The VoiceOver tutorial has been completely redone and is now highly interactive. Give it a try, even if you’d consider yourself among the more advanced users. 
  • A flexible Voices rotor allows users to alter the voice that is used to speak the content on the screen from anywhere. This was previously possible through the language’s rotor item, however there is no longer a limit to the number of voices and associated options that can be selected for a given dialect. 
  • Personal voices can now be selected and utilized as Voiceover voices. Apple also added premium version of U.S. Zoey and Australian Lee. 
  • There is now a voice equalizer, making it possible to suppress or expound on certain frequencies and customize essentially every aspect of spoken speech. Notably, you can set minimum and maximums for each of the settings, like volume and speaking rate (in terms of WPM). 
  • Audio ducking now has options to always duck, only duck when speaking, or never duck other sounds. 
  • Braille Screen Input got new gestures and upgrades. The list of enhancements is too long to include here but suffice it to say that the feature got the biggest overhaul since it was announced back in iOS 8. Users can now launch BSI without the rotor, navigate the operating system (command mode), use multi-line braille, and much more. 

For more, CultOfMac has a roundup of all the new features in iOS 18, you can refer to Apple’s iOS 18 All New Features document, or consult the extremely in-depth article from AppleVis. 

Apple’s AirPods Get FDA Approval 

On September 12, Apple made history by announcing that they had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sell the second generation AirPods Pro and its hearing aid feature (HAF) as the first over-the-counter hearing aid ever sold. The FDA points out that “More than 30 million American adults report some degree of hearing loss.” Up to this point, hearing aids posed a significant financial barrier, retailing anywhere from $1,000 to $8,000 per pair, excluding fees paid to audiologists and other medical professionals. Compare that to the second generation AirPods, which can often be obtained for around $175. 

U.S. Election Prep

If you’re based in the United States, you’ve undoubtedly been hearing a lot about the upcoming Presidential and Senate elections (it’s difficult not to). Below, we’ve compiled some perspectives and resources on the accessibility of their websites, polling systems, and more: 

October Accessibility Conferences and Events 

Informative Reads

Interested in More Information?