2017 Screen Reader User Survey Findings

Details

We're often asked which assistive technologies and devices are currently used by people with disabilities to inform development and testing of web sites, web applications and mobile apps.

Screen readers are sophisticated assistive technologies used mostly by people who are blind on desktop and mobile devices to read and navigate content. This is a summary of key findings from the WebAIM 2017 Screen Reader User Survey that includes:

  • screen reader, devices and browser use trends
  • mobile device adoption rates
  • navigation methods and primary challenges.

Overall response from countries outside the USA has increased in this study, and the findings seem more reflective of Australian users even though Australian participation remained relatively low (3.7%).

The majority of respondents (75.8%) were blind, expected because the majority of screen reader users are blind. In fact 75.6% of respondents claim to rely exclusively on a screen reader to read and understand digital content.

Screen readers on desktop devices

Primary use

Respondents use the following as their 'primary' screen reader on desktop/laptop devices:

  1. JAWS (46.6%)
  2. NVDA (31.9%)
  3. Voiceover (11.7%)

ZoomText was only used by 2.4% of respondents, coming in fourth behind Voiceover. However it shouldn't be discounted because it is broadly used by people with low vision.

When using their primary screen reader, respondents favoured the following web browsers:

  1. Firefox (41%)
  2. Internet Explorer 11 (23.3%)
  3. Chrome (15.5%
  4. Safari (10.5%)

This is the first time that IE11 has not been the most used browser. At just 0.5% use of Microsoft Edge is very low.

Common use

68% of respondents use multiple screen readers. Of particular note is the rapid rise of NVDA which, as a free download, is gaining rapid popularity, and is now used by 64.9% of respondents, just behind JAWS (66%). This trend toward free screen readers is on the rise, favoured by 77.8% of respondents.

Browser and screen reader combinations

There are many combinations in use. For example JAWS, traditionally used with E11 is often used with other browsers.

However the four 'primary use' combinations (highlighted below) account for 63.4% of respondents, and should be reflected in web testing.

  1. JAWS with IE11 (24.7%)
  2. NVDA with Firefox (23.6%)
  3. JAWS with Firefox (15.1%)
  4. Voiceover with Safari (10%)
  5. JAWS with Chrome (6.5%)
  6. NVDA with Chrome (5.9%)
  7. NVDA with IE11 (2.3%)
  8. Voiceover with Chrome (1.4%)
  9. Other (10.5%)

Operating system

Windows remained the most commonly used operating system among respondents (72.8%) followed by iOS (14.2%), Apple (7.9%) and Android (3.1%).

Respondents using iOS and Android nearly tripled since 2015. Respondents without disabilities were almost 4 times more likely to use Apple than respondents with disabilities, whereas users with disabilities were more likely to respond using iOS devices.

Screen readers on mobile devices

Devices

88% of respondents use a screen reader on a mobile phone, mobile handheld device or tablet, up from 69.2% in 2015. Apple devices remain favoured by most respondents:

  1. Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (75.6%)
  2. Android (22%)
  3. Other (2.3%)

Screen readers

Both Voiceover (iOS) and Talkback (Android) use increased. Voiceover continues to lead the charge.

  1. Voiceover (69%)
  2. Talkback (29.5%)
  3. Voice Assistant (5.2%)

However it is noted that 20.9% of respondent used multiple mobile screen readers.

Mobile use vs Desktop use

The majority of respondents claim to use mobile devices about the same amount as desktop devices.

Interestingly, yet not surprisingly people with disabilities are more likely to primarily use a mobile device rather than a desktop device, than people without disabilities.

Use of navigation tools

Trends in respondent use of navigation tools should inform product development.

Landmarks/regions

The frequent use of landmarks and regions has continually decreased from 43.8% in January 2014, to 38.6% in July 2015, to 30.5% on this survey. This may be because other navigation tools have improved.

Finding information

  • Respondents are very likely to navigate through headings when trying to find information in a lengthy web page (67.5%), so it is crucial that page content is divided into structural headings.
  • The majority of respondents (60%) are most helped when there is one first level heading (H1) only that contains the document title.

Problematic items

In order, the most problematic items for respondents were:

  1. CAPTCHA - images presenting text used to verify that you are a human user
  2. Screens or parts of screens that change unexpectedly
  3. Links or buttons that do not make sense
  4. The presence of inaccessible Flash content
  5. Lack of keyboard accessibility
  6. Complex or difficult forms
  7. Images with missing or improper descriptions (alt text)
  8. Missing or improper headings
  9. Too many links or navigation items
  10. Complex data tables
  11. Inaccessible or missing search functionality
  12. Lack of "skip to main content" or "skip navigation" links

The most notable rise is "Screens or parts of screens that change unexpectedly" which jumped from 7th position in 2009 to 5th in 2012, and now to 2nd in 2017. This is most likely due to the increase in complex and dynamic web applications.

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Note

Please refer to the WebAIM 2017 Screen Reader User Survey for complete details and findings.