Level AAASince WCAG 2.0
1.4.7 Low or No Background Audio
Guideline 1.4: Distinguishable – Content is easy to see and hear: contrast, size, spacing.
What does the rule require?
Speech recordings have no background sounds or only very quiet ones – at least 20 decibels quieter than the speech.
How to get it right
Record speech without a music bed or mix music in very quietly. The audio on this site has no background music.
Who benefits most?
- Hard-of-hearing people
Official wording
This page explains the rule in simple words. Only the original W3C text is normative.
- “Understanding Low or No Background Audio” at W3C (external site)
- Techniques in the WCAG Quick Reference (external site)