Results of WebAIM Screen Reader Survey #6

Submitted by Charlotte Cushman on Sep 07, 2015
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In July 2015, WebAIM conducted their 6th survey of preferences of screen reader users.  The valid responses to the survey are the highest that they have ever received (2515 participants) and they note that the survey was distributed more widely and to less proficient users. This likely indicates that the responses to this survey are more reflective of the broader screen reader community.

Analysis of the results indicates a significant increase in the usage of ZoomText and Window-Eyes:

Reported usage of ZoomText as respondents’ primary screen reader skyrocketed in the last 18 months from 1.3% in January 2014 to 22.2% in July 2015. ZoomText is used as a primary screen reader as often as both NVDA (14.6%) and VoiceOver (7.6%) combined!
 
Window-Eyes increased as a primary screen reader from 6.7% to 20.7% in the last 18 months. As a result, there were significant decreases in the usage of JAWS (from 50% to 30.2%) and notable decreases in usage of NVDA (18.6% to 14.6%), VoiceOver (10.3% to 7.6%), and System Access (7.7% to 1.5%) as primary screen readers.
 

What do the survey results indicate?

These survey results suggest that those of us in the web accessibility field may need to reconsider our perceptions of screen reader users – the typical user may be different than our own interactions and experience suggest.

We must recognize that ZoomText and Window-Eyes are significant players and these tools should be more widely included in web accessibility testing methodologies.

To read the full report, visit: http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey6/

 

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