WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

Screen Reader User Survey #9 Results

Introduction

In May - June 2021, WebAIM surveyed preferences of screen reader users. We received 1568 valid responses. This was a follow-up to 8 previous surveys that were conducted between January 2009 and September 2019.

A few disclaimers and notices:

  • Totals may not equal 100% due to rounding.
  • Total responses (n) for each question may not equal 1568 due to respondents not answering a particular question.
  • The sample was not controlled and may not represent all screen reader users.
  • We hope to conduct additional surveys of this nature again in the future. If you have recommendations or questions that you would like us to ask, please contact us.

Demographics

Region

Respondent Region
Region# of respondents% of respondents
North America88857.7%
Europe36223.5%
Asia1268.2%
Australia and Oceania583.8%
Africa/Middle East523.4%
South America422.7%
Central America and Caribbean120.8%

This survey had more respondents outside North America and Europe than previous surveys, thus providing better representation of the global screen reader user audience.

Age

Please indicate your age.
Age# of respondents% of respondents
Below 201147.3%
21 - 4060038.3%
41 - 6049131.4%
60+36023.0%

This survey had a much higher number of respondents aged 60 or older than any other previous survey.

Disability

Do you use a screen reader due to a disability?
Response# of Respondents% of Respondents
Yes143592.3%
No1207.7%

Responses are predominantly very similar between respondents with and without disabilities. Any notable differences are detailed below to highlight differences in practices or perceptions between disabled and non-disabled respondents.

Disability Types

Which of the following disabilities do you have?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Blindness124679.5%
Low Vision/Visually-Impaired34421.9%
Cognitive or Learning503.2%
Deafness/Hard-of-Hearing1147.3%
Motor372.4%
Other573.6%

295 respondents (18.8%) reported multiple disabilities. 101 respondents (6.4%) reported being both deaf and blind.

Screen Reader Proficiency

Please rate your screen reader proficiency.
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Advanced88757.5%
Intermediate57737.4%
Beginner785.1%

Those who use screen readers due to a disability reported themselves as more proficient with screen readers—60.5% of those with disabilities considered their proficiency to be "Advanced" compared to only 21.2% of those without disabilities.

Internet Proficiency

Please rate your proficiency using the Internet.
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Advanced104567.5%
Intermediate47730.8%
Beginner261.7%

Those without disabilities rate themselves as more proficient than those with disabilities.

Level of Employment

Please indicate your current level of employment.
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Employed full time63441.2%
Not employed27517.9%
Retired27217.7%
Employed part time19112.4%
Student or too young16710.9%

83.2% of survey respondents who do not have a disability are employed full time, compared to 37.6% of respondents who do have a disability. The reported employment rate is significantly higher than the 29.5% for individuals with significant vision loss reported by the NFB in 2016. This survey had a much higher number of retired respondents than previous surveys.

Primary Screen Reader

Which of the following is your primary desktop/laptop screen reader?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
JAWS83253.7%
NVDA47630.7%
VoiceOver1006.5%
ZoomText/Fusion724.7%
System Access or System Access to Go120.8%
Narrator80.5%
ChromeVox50.3%
Other432.8%

The following chart shows historical trends for primary screen reader usage.

Line chart of primary screen reader usage since October 2009. JAWS has a steady decline from 68% to 40% in 2019, but jumped to 54% in 2021. NVDA has steady incline from 3% to 41%, then down to 31% in 2021. VoiceOver has a slow incline from 10% to 13%, then down to 7% in 2021.

After a decade of declines, JAWS is once again reported as the most common primary screen reader, with NVDA and VoiceOver both showing notable decreases in primary usage over the last two years.

Respondents with disabilities are more likely to use JAWS and NVDA and less likely to use VoiceOver as their primary screen reader than respondents without disabilities. 5.5% of respondents with disabilities primarily use VoiceOver, compared to 18.5% of respondents without disabilities.

Primary usage varied greatly by region. JAWS usage was much higher than NVDA in Australia (71.4% vs. 21.4%) and North America (63.1% vs. 19.4%), though JAWS usage was lower than NVDA in Europe (40.2% vs. 41.6%), Africa/Middle East (38.5% vs. 61.5%), and Asia (31.5% vs. 39.7%).

Screen Readers Commonly Used

Which of the following desktop/laptop screen readers do you commonly use?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
JAWS109770.0%
NVDA92258.8%
VoiceOver64841.3%
Narrator57736.8%
ZoomText1408.9%
ChromeVox734.7%
System Access or System Access to Go473.0%
Window-Eyes241.5%
Other996.3%

Chart of screen reader usage showing steady increase in usage of NVDA and VoiceOver, and decrease in usage of JAWS and other screen readers, with JAWS increasing again in 2021.

Usage of JAWS and Narrator increased notably over the last two years, with NVDA and VoiceOver usage decreasing. Narrator—freely available in Windows for several years—is the primary screen reader of only .5% of respondents, but commonly used by 36.8% of respondents (up from 21.4% in 2017 and 30.3% in 2019).

71.3% of respondents use more than one desktop/laptop screen reader. This was up from 53% in July 2015 and 68% in 2017. 39% use three or more, and 15.9% use four or more different screen readers. VoiceOver users most commonly use additional screen readers, which is notable since the other screen readers run almost exclusively on Windows.

Browsers

When using your primary screen reader, which browser do you use most often?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Chrome83353.6%
Microsoft Edge28618.4%
Firefox25716.5%
Safari795.1%
Internet Explorer523.3%
Other473.0%

Line chart of primary browser usage showing increases in Chrome and Edge, decreases in Internet Explorer and Firefox, and Safari usage generally stable.

Chrome usage among respondents continues to increase with it being used as a primary browser more than all other browsers combined. Microsoft Edge usage also increased notably over the last two years—it is now the 2nd most used primary browser. Internet Explorer usage continued to decline to only 3.3% of respondents.

Screen Reader / Browser Combinations

Most common screen reader and browser combinations
Screen Reader & Browser# of Respondents% of Respondents
JAWS with Chrome50032.5%
NVDA with Chrome24616.0%
JAWS with Edge19412.6%
NVDA with Firefox1499.7%
JAWS with Firefox744.8%
VoiceOver with Safari724.7%
NVDA with Edge553.6%
ZoomText/Fusion with Chrome332.1%
JAWS with Internet Explorer301.9%
VoiceOver with Chrome241.6%
ZoomText/Fusion with Edge181.2%
Other combinations1449.4%

There are many combinations of browsers and screen readers in use, with JAWS with Chrome by far the most common.

Operating System

What operating system are you on when using your primary desktop/laptop screen reader?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Windows141291.1%
Mac1016.5%
Linux221.4%
Other151.0%

Respondents without disabilities were almost 4 times more likely to use Mac OS than respondents with disabilities.

JavaScript

JavaScript Enabled
Response% of Respondents
Yes99.4%
No.6%

JavaScript support was detected with the survey form submission. Nearly all respondents had JavaScript enabled.

Reason for Use

What is the main reason for using your primary screen reader?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Existing Comfort/Expertise70746.3%
Features45129.5%
Availability1499.8%
Cost1268.2%
Support936.1%

When compared to previous surveys, respondents indicated that existing comfort/expertise and features are increasingly important, whereas availability and cost are less important. This may at least partially explain the increase in usage of JAWS compared to the past.

Screen Reader Satisfaction

How satisfied are you with your primary screen reader?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Very satisfied99864.6%
Somewhat satisfied48231.2%
Slightly satisfied543.5%
Not satisfied110.7%

Respondents indicating that they are very or somewhat satisfied by their primary screen reader:

  • NVDA - 97.3%
  • JAWS - 95.3%
  • VoiceOver - 93.7%
  • ZoomText/Fusion - 91.5%
  • Narrator - 87.5%

Home vs. Work

Do you use a different screen reader at work or school than at home?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Yes23216.0%
No121584.0%

24.7% of respondents to this same question in 2015 reported using a different screen reader at work/school vs. home, compared to only 16% in 2021.

36% of VoiceOver users reported using a different screen reader at work/school vs. home, compared to 25% for Narrator, 17% for NVDA, and 13% for JAWS.

Mobile Screen Readers

Mobile Usage

Do you use a screen reader on a mobile device?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Yes139490.0%
No15510.0%

90% of respondents report using a screen reader on a mobile device. This number has increased over the last 12 years. Respondents with disabilities (91.6%) are more likely to use a mobile screen reader than respondents without disabilities (71.4%).

Chart showing increases in mobile screen reader usage from 12% in 2009 to 67% in 2010, with a steady increase to 90% in 2021. There were small decreases in 2015 and 2019.

Decreases in usage in particular years likely reflect differences in the survey respondent demographics rather than an overall decrease in mobile screen reader usage.

Mobile Platforms

Which of the following is your primary mobile/tablet platform?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch108371.9%
Android38825.8%
Chrome OS40.3%
Other302.0%

Respondents with disabilities used iOS devices at a higher rate than those without disabilities. Usage of iOS devices was significantly higher in North America (82%), Australia (75%), and Europe/UK (71%) than in Africa/Middle East (54%), South America (33%), and Asia (27%). Respondents with more advanced screen reader and internet proficiency were much more likely to use iOS over Android.

Chart of mobile platform usage showing iOS usage increasing from 30% in 2010 to to 70 plus percent around 2015 and thereafter, Android usage increasing from 5% to around 25%, and other mobile platforms decreasing from 65% to 2%.

iOS devices continue to dominate the mobile screen reader market. Usage of other platforms (Chrome OS, Windows Phone, Nokia, etc.) combined represent only 2.3% of usage.

Mobile Screen Readers Used

Which of the following mobile/tablet screen readers do you commonly use?
Response% of respondents
VoiceOver71.5%
TalkBack29.1%
Voice Assistant7.6%
Commentary/Jieshuo6.6%
VoiceView6.1%
Mobile Accessibility for Android3.4%
Nuance Talks1.0%
Mobile Speak0.5%
IDEAL0.4%
Other3.4%

Primary Mobile Browser

Which of the following is your primary mobile web browser?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Safari89761.5%
Chrome35324.2%
Firefox624.3%
IE or Edge Mobile382.6%
Samsung Browser231.6%
Android Browser161.1%
Other684.6%

Mobile App vs Web Site Usage

When performing common online tasks such as banking or shopping are you most likely to use a mobile app or the web site?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
app78151.8%
web72748.2%

Respondents indicated that they are slightly more likely to use a mobile app than a web site for common online tasks. The preference for mobile app usage increased to 51.8% in 2021, up from 50.8% in 2019 and 46% in 2017.

Web Accessibility Progress

Which of the following best describes your feelings regarding the accessibility of web content over the previous year?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Web content has become more accessible60439.3%
Web content accessibility has not changed65042.3%
Web content has become less accessible28418.5%

Perception of the state of web accessibility has generally not changed in recent years. Respondents without disabilities tend to be more positive about recent progress (47.4% thought it has become more accessible) than those with disabilities (38.6% thought it has become more accessible).

Social Media Accessibility

In general, how accessible are social media web sites to you?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Very accessible21814.6%
Somewhat accessible79353.2%
Not very accessible25116.8%
Not at all accessible251.7%
I don't know20613.8%

Perceptions of social media accessibility are generally unchanged over the last several years.

Landmarks/Regions

How often do you navigate by landmarks/regions in your screen reader?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Whenever they're available18011.7%
Often21413.9%
Sometimes42827.8%
Seldom36423.7%
Never35122.8%

The frequent use of landmarks and regions has continually decreased from 43.8% in 2014, to 38.6% in 2015, to 30.5% in 2017, to 26.6% in 2019, to 25.6% on this survey. It's difficult to know the reasons for this. It could be due to infrequent or improper usage of landmarks/regions in pages. Or perhaps because other mechanisms are continually better.

Finding Information

When trying to find information on a lengthy web page, which of the following are you most likely to do first?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Navigate through the headings on the page104767.7%
Read through the page1268.1%
Use the Find feature21513.9%
Navigate through the links of the page1107.1%
Navigate through the landmarks/regions of the page493.2%

Navigating headings remains the predominant method for finding page information. Those with advanced screen reader proficiency are much more likely to use headings (76%) than those with beginner proficiency (41%), who are more likely to read through the page or use the "Find" feature.

While 25.6% of respondents indicate that they always or often use landmarks when they are present, only 3.2% use this as a primary method for finding information on a lengthy web page.

Heading Levels

When navigating a web page by headings, how useful are the heading levels (e.g., "Heading 1", "Heading 2", etc.) to you?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Very useful81352.8%
Somewhat useful50732.9%
Not very useful1479.6%
Not at all useful281.8%
I don't know442.9%

The usefulness of proper heading structures is very high, with 85.7% of respondents finding heading levels very or somewhat useful.

Document Accessibility

Which document format do you find most accessible?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Word103668.9%
PDF19412.9%
EPUB16010.6%
Other1137.5%

Respondents to the 2019 survey reported much higher levels of accessibility issues with PDF documents than with Word documents.

Document Preference

Which document format do you prefer to read?
Response# of respondents% of respondents
Word91260.6%
PDF26117.3%
EPUB20413.6%
Other1288.5%

Email clients

Which of the following email clients do you commonly use?
Response% of respondents
Outlook or Outlook.com59.0%
Apple Mail on iOS46.3%
Gmail with desktop browser45.9%
Gmail on mobile37.4%
Apple Mail on Mac11.2%
Windows Live Mail6.6%
Yahoo!4.6%
Other19.8%

Many respondents commented that they use Mozilla Thunderbird which was not provided as a response option on the survey.