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Get ReportWhat Is a Screen Reader?
Screen readers are software tools that enable people who cannot see the screen to access information on computers and smartphones. The technology reads the screen aloud or converts it to Braille. We’ll cover more on how these devices work and how to optimize your digital content for screen reader users below.
Author: Missy Jensen, Senior SEO Copywriter
Published: 08/05/2026
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Screen readers are critical for many users who navigate the internet. In the U.S. alone, approximately 7 million Americans(opens in a new tab) have vision loss or blindness, making everyday digital tasks difficult or impossible without assistive technology.
To ensure your website is accessible to the millions of people who rely on screen readers to use the web, it’s critical to keep these users in mind throughout the content creation process. Below, we cover everything you need to know about screen readers and how to design content that works well with assistive technologies.
What is a Screen Reader?
A screen reader is software that converts on-screen text and information into audio or Braille output, enabling people with visual impairments to access digital content. Users navigate via keyboard shortcuts rather than a mouse. Screen readers are essential for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(opens in a new tab) (WCAG) and digital inclusion.
How Do Screen Readers Work?
Screen readers convert text displayed on a computer into a usable format for those who cannot read it. Users navigate their devices through a variety of keyboard commands and unique shortcuts.
Typically, screen readers present information in several key ways:
Text-to-Speech Output:
Content on the screen is read aloud through synthesized speech
The most common method screen readers use to deliver information
Users can adjust voice speed, pitch, and verbosity settings
According to a survey by WebAIM(opens in a new tab), 71.3% of users said they exclusively rely on screen reader audio
Braille Display:
Refreshable braille displays convert digital text into tactile braille characters
These physical devices connect to computers or mobile devices and update dynamically as users navigate
Braille is especially useful for detailed reading, editing, and programming
The same WebAIM survey(opens in a new tab) found that only 3.9% of users primarily rely on braille output
Screen reader users typically navigate websites using the keyboard rather than a mouse. Specialized shortcuts allow them to quickly move between important elements on a page, making navigation much faster than listening to an entire page line by line. For example:
Pressing H jumps between headings
Pressing L moves between links
Other shortcuts allow users to navigate buttons, form fields, and landmarks, helping them understand the page structure and find information efficiently.
Another important note: Focus order matters as much as shortcuts. When a user isn't jumping by shortcut, a screen reader moves through the page in the order the underlying HTML is written — not the order elements appear visually on screen.
This is called focus order (or reading order). If the code sequence doesn't match the logical visual sequence, content gets announced out of order: a "Submit" button might be read before the form fields it belongs to, or a modal's contents before its heading.
Building the page so its HTML source order follows its logical reading order keeps navigation coherent for users who move through content linearly.
How Screen Readers Read Your Website
A screen reader relies on semantic HTML and ARIA to interpret a page, so a site is only usable if elements are coded as what they actually are — a real button element rather than a styled div — with proper labels, alt text, and a logical focus order.
Published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), WCAG 2.2 guidelines are the international standard for web accessibility and an excellent primer on the essentials of accessible web design. Its guidelines map directly to the most common screen reader failures, and fixing them is more straightforward than it sounds. Work through these six steps:
Use semantic HTML. Use native HTML elements (headings, lists, buttons) correctly so screen readers can interpret page structure. This is the foundation on which every other step builds: when a button is a real <button> and a heading is a real <h2>, the screen reader already knows what each element is and how to announce it.
Label every form input. Every form input needs a programmatically associated label so screen readers can identify its purpose, rather than announcing an unlabeled field that the user can't interpret.
Make everything keyboard operable. All interactive elements must be reachable and operable by keyboard alone, with a visible focus indicator so users can see where they are on the page.
Write descriptive alt text. Every meaningful image, graph, or non-text element needs descriptive alt text; decorative images should have empty alt attributes so screen readers skip them.
Add skip links. A "skip to main content" link at the top of the page lets users bypass repetitive navigation and get to the content that matters.
Use ARIA sparingly. Use ARIA roles and attributes only when native HTML cannot do the job. Incorrect ARIA is worse than none at all, because it overrides what the browser already communicates correctly and can announce elements as something they aren't.
It's important to note that WCAG is written to improve experiences for all users with disabilities, not just individuals with visual disabilities. Testing your content against the guidelines can improve compliance with the ADA and other non-discrimination laws.
Because WCAG is built on best practices in web design, conformance pays off beyond compliance: accessible websites tend to perform better in search engine rankings, convert at higher rates, and provide a better experience for all users.
The best way to ensure your website is screen reader-ready is to conduct a screen reader test.
What Types of Screen Readers are There?
Screen readers are available on both desktop and mobile devices:
Desktop: Most desktop operating systems have built-in options. However, most screen reader users prefer dedicated software such as NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) and JAWS (Job Access With Speech).
Mobile: Both Android and Apple iOS feature built-in screen readers (TalkBack and VoiceOver) to help visually impaired users navigate the web on their mobile device.
Typically, users choose one screen reader and stick with it. This is primarily because each application has distinct features, and learning the software takes time.
The table below provides a quick overview of the types of screen readers available to users:
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Popular Screen Reading Tools
The most widely used screen readers are JAWS and NVDA on Windows and VoiceOver on Apple devices. JAWS is the long-standing enterprise standard, NVDA is the leading free, open-source option, and VoiceOver is Apple's built-in reader for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Each has distinct strengths, so most users pick one and stick with it.
Explore the three best free screen readers for digital accessibility →
Why Screen Readers Matter
Screen reader compatibility is both a legal baseline under the ADA and a driver of reach and usability for every visitor. Building for screen readers helps you meet legal requirements, reduce lawsuit exposure, expand your market, and deliver a better experience for all users.
Millions of people depend on this technology. According to the CDC, over 7 million Americans have vision loss or blindness(opens in a new tab). For many of them, a screen reader is not a convenience but a necessity for accessing digital content and participating in the modern economy.
It's also a legal requirement. The Americans with Disabilities Act(opens in a new tab) (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act set the baseline for digital accessibility in the U.S., and WCAG 2.2 Level AA is the most widely used benchmark for meeting it. Web accessibility lawsuits have grown steadily over the past decade, and screen reader incompatibility is one of the most commonly cited issues, with the cost of a single suit typically far exceeding the cost of proactive testing.
Finally, accessibility is good business. People with disabilities represent a significant consumer segment, and screen reader compatibility signals broader usability that often improves the experience for everyone, including users on mobile devices or navigating with a keyboard.
Why Isn’t Automated Testing Enough for Screen Reader Compatibility?
Manual screen reader testing catches broken reading order, unclear or missing announcements, keyboard traps, and confusing focus behavior, usability failures that pass an automated scan but stop a real user cold.
Automated tools are genuinely useful: they scan large sites quickly and reliably flag technical conformance issues such as missing alt attributes, missing form labels, or low color contrast. But conformance is not the same as usability. An automated scan confirms that the code checks the right boxes; it can't confirm that a person relying on a screen reader can actually complete a task. That gap is where manual testing (or expert testing) earns its place, and it's why the most common failures below are the ones only a human driving a screen reader will find:
Reading order that doesn't match the visual layout. A scan sees valid HTML; it doesn't hear that the "Submit" button is announced before the form fields it belongs to, or that a sidebar interrupts the main article mid-sentence.
Announcements that are technically present but unclear. A link labeled "click here" or a button labeled "button" with no context passes an automated check but tells the user nothing about where it goes or what it does.
Keyboard traps. A custom widget or modal that a mouse user can escape easily can trap a keyboard-only user with no way out — something no scan flags can detect, because the element itself is technically valid.
Focus confusion. When focus jumps unpredictably, disappears after a menu closes, or lands somewhere invisible, the user loses their place entirely. Only someone navigating by keyboard and listening to the screen reader notices.
None of these are exotic edge cases. They're the everyday failures that make a technically "compliant" site unusable in practice, and they only surface when a person navigates the page the way a screen reader user actually does — by keyboard, in sequence, listening to what gets announced.
That's the case for pairing automated scanning with expert expert testing, which is exactly what AudioEye does. AudioEye combines automated coverage with hands-on screen reader testing by certified experts, so issues that slip past a scan are caught before your users encounter them.
When to Test with a Screen Reader
Screen reader testing should be built into every major development cycle, redesign, and significant content update. These are the points where new code or content is most likely to introduce issues an automated scan won't catch.
Timing matters because conformance alone doesn't guarantee a usable experience. Even a site that meets WCAG 2.2 Level AA requirements can still have structural and navigation failures that automated tools confirm as technically valid but that real users still encounter. This highlights why building expert screen-reader testing into these cycles to catch what the checklist can't catch is so essential.
Ready to Test with a Screen Reader?
Understanding screen readers is the first step. The next is knowing how your website actually performs for the people who rely on it, because the failures that matter most, broken reading order, unclear announcements, keyboard traps, and confused focus, are exactly the ones an automated scan won't surface on its own.
That's where a combined approach makes the difference. AudioEye's Digital Accessibility Platform pairs automated scanning with Expert Audits, so certified experts test your site the way a screen reader user actually navigates it and catch the issues that automated tools alone miss. You get the scale of automation and the judgment of real human testing, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Get started with a free accessibility scan to see where your site stands today. Or schedule a demo to see AudioEye in action.
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