Digital Accessibility for the d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing

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Digital Accessibility for the d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Posted February 03, 2025

AudioEye

Posted February 03, 2025

A laptop is open and displaying a website, next to icons for deafness and accessibility
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For people who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing, digital accessibility goes beyond captions. Here are four tips to help you make your digital content more accessible to individuals with auditory disabilities.

Originally Posted on June 8, 2023

When people talk about digital accessibility for the d/Deaf or hard of hearing, the conversation usually starts—and ends—with captions. 

And while it’s true that providing captions and transcripts for audio content is an important part of making sure your website is accessible to everyone, it isn’t the only thing you should do.

Below, we’ll discuss the different types of hearing impairments and share four tips on making your content more accessible for people with hearing loss.

Icons for the three types of hearing impairment: deaf (lowercase), Deaf (capitalized), and Hard of hearing

Understanding the Different Types of Hearing Impairments

The most important thing to understand about auditory disabilities is that hearing loss isn’t binary. There are different types of hearing impairments and degrees of hearing loss within these groups:

  • Deaf (lowercase): When not capitalized, deaf refers to the condition of not hearing.
  • Deaf (capitalized): Deaf refers to the community and culture of deaf people who share the language of American Sign Language (ASL). Members of the Deaf community have typically lived their entire lives not hearing, with ASL being their first language.
  • Hard of hearing: Hard of hearing refers to mild to moderate hearing loss. Many people with various levels of deafness prefer this term to others. 


As you consider ways to make your digital content accessible to people with hearing impairments, aim to deliver an accessible experience for each group. Doing so enhances your overall accessibility and minimizes your legal risk of non-compliance with accessibility laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the European Accessibility Act, and others.

Assistive Technologies for d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals

Along with understanding the different types of hearing impairments, it’s also important to understand the different types of assistive technologies these individuals use. These tools aren’t just conveniences — they’re essential for communication, access to information, and equal participation online. Designing with these technologies in mind helps you create accessible and compliant digital spaces. 

Some of these technologies include:

Hearing Aids

Hearing aids are one of the most common assistive technologies for individuals with hearing loss, but they don’t just amplify sound — they enhance specific frequencies based on a person’s needs. Modern hearing aids connect directly to digital devices via Bluetooth, allowing users to stream audio from videos, phone calls, and even live events. Providing high-quality audio, clear speech, and compatibility with assistive listening devices (ALDs) is essential for ensuring accessibility.

Video Relay Services (VRS) and Video Remote Interpreting (VRI)

Individuals who use sign language as their primary form of communication typically use video-based services to bridge the gap. Video Relay Services (VRS) allow Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to communicate over the phone through a sign language interpreter. At the same time, Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) provides on-demand interpreting for in-person or virtual interactions. 

Your digital content should ensure these video services work seamlessly, with clear video quality, no unnecessary lag, and the ability to integrate third-party interpreting services when needed.

Real-Time Text Software

Unlike traditional text messaging, Real-Time Text (RTT) software allows messages to appear on the screen as they are typed, eliminating the delays of waiting for someone to hit “send.” This technology is crucial for emergency communication and live conversations, making it essential for platforms to support RTT compatibility. You should also consider chat-based customer support options as an alternative to phone calls.

Captions and Translations

Captions are one of the most widely used accessibility features, benefitting not just those with hearing impairments but also non-native speakers and anyone in a sound-sensitive environment (e.g., being in a noisy environment or a quiet space without headphones). High-quality captions should be accurate, synchronized, and available for both live and pre-recorded content. 

Additionally, providing sign language translations for key content (if possible) can make your digital content more accessible and usable by a larger audience. While AI-generated captions are improving, human review is still necessary to ensure clarity, especially for technical or nuanced topics.

Understanding how these technologies work and who relies on them can help you make better design decisions that remove barriers to auditory content. 

4 Tips to Improve the Accessibility of Your Audio Content

As you consider ways to improve the accessibility of your audio content, keep these tips in mind. Several are geared toward a specific type of hearing impairment, but we recommend adopting all of them to deliver the most accessible experience possible.

A list of accessibility tips for people with hearing impairments: provide closed captions, give people another way to get in touch, invest in high-quality audio, and don't use autoplay

1. Provide Closed Captions and Transcripts

People are watching more video content than ever, but d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing users can be left behind if videos don’t include captions or transcripts. Adding these features helps individuals with hearing impairments follow the entire thread of your video, not just what’s on screen.

We’ve shared tips on how to make your videos accessible, but here are some high-level best practices for closed captions:

  • Proof captions by hand: Plenty of programs will automatically create captions for your videos. Unfortunately, voice recognition is imperfect, which can confuse or frustrate people relying on captions. Proofing your captions with human eyes and ears can help catch those mistakes. 
  • Synchronize captions: Make sure your captions and subtitles appear on-screen as close as possible to what is said in the video. Many people who are deaf have some hearing, and poor timing can be jarring.
  • Check caption placement: Make sure your captions don’t interfere with important visual elements on the screen. Captions are usually placed at the bottom-center of the display, but you can move them when necessary.
  • Provide simple access: Make it easy for people to find the caption controls for your videos. Ensure the controls to toggle captions on/off are clearly labeled and easy to see.

2. Give People More Ways to Get in Touch than by Phone Call

For many businesses, their website is the primary way they connect with potential customers. You want people to be able to easily contact your business, whether they want to book an appointment, place an order, or get more information about your products or services.

For that reason, you should provide multiple contact options on your website. Don’t just list a phone number for your business, as deaf and hard of hearing individuals may not hear well on the phone. Offer other ways to get in touch — like email, live webchat, or online forms.

3. Invest in High-Quality Audio

This feels like one of those tips that should apply to videos in general. Of course you want audio that’s crisp, clear, and free of background noise! It’s yet another example of how building an accessible experience often means building a better experience for everyone.

With that said, high-quality audio is central to video accessibility. Many people with deafness still have some level of hearing. People with hearing loss tend to be able to hear better — whether they’re using hearing aids or not — when there is little background noise getting in the way of what they want to hear.

Try to make sure the audio on your site is free of background noise and the sound you want people to hear is clear. As an added bonus, this will also help transcribers hear the audio better and write more accurate transcriptions.

4. Don’t Use Autoplay

There are plenty of accessibility reasons to avoid using autoplay (not to mention the fact that many people find this type of content intrusive and annoying):

  • Autoplay doesn’t give viewers time to set up assistive technology.
  • People who are hard of hearing often have the volume on their devices turned up. It can be embarrassing if they’re in a public place and your website starts loudly playing an audio file. 
  • If your audio file is attached to a video that includes flashing elements, you could unintentionally trigger a seizure for certain viewers.

Examples of Accessible Design Principles and Auditory Disabilities

When designing for accessibility, it’s easy to assume that adding captions or transcripts to audio content makes digital content entirely accessible for individuals with auditory disabilities. But true accessibility goes much deeper — it means applying the core principles of accessible design to remove barriers, meet compliance standards, and create an inclusive experience. 


The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) break accessibility down into four key principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Here’s what these principles look like when applied to ensure accessibility for Deaf and hard-of-hearing users.

Perceivable: Ensuring Information Isn’t Limited to Sound

If content relies solely on audio, it’s completely inaccessible to someone who can’t hear it. Perceivable design ensures all users can access information in multiple ways. This means providing accurate captions for videos, transcripts for audio content, and visual indicators for alerts or notifications.

For example, if a video tutorial relies on spoken instructions, on-screen text or sign language interpretation can ensure that Deaf users receive the same information.

Operable: Making Interactive Elements Work for Everyone

Operable design ensures users can navigate and interact with content without unnecessary barriers. For auditory accessibility, this might mean providing text-based customer support options (like live chat or email) instead of requiring a phone call. Ensuring video players support keyboard navigation so users who rely on assistive technologies — like screen readers or speech-to-text tools — can control playback and access captions easily is another example.

Understandable: Clear Communication Without Confusion

Accessible design isn’t just about making information available — it’s about making it easy to understand. For Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, captions should be accurate, properly synced, and free of technical jargon or auto-captioning errors. If your website includes complex instructions, consider offering sign language videos alongside text-based explanations. And when using audio-based CAPTCHA challenges, always provide an alternative method, like a text-based puzzle or image recognition.

Robust: Ensuring Compatibility with Assistive Technologies

Finally, a truly accessible experience works across different devices and assistive technologies. Robust design ensures that accessibility features — like captions, transcripts, and video relay services — function correctly across various browsers, operating systems, and devices. This means testing with different screen readers, ensuring compatibility with real-time text (RTT) software, and supporting integrations with hearing aids and cochlear implants that connect via Bluetooth.

Applying these four principles ensures you’re not just checking a compliance box — you’re creating digital spaces where everyone, regardless of their hearing ability, can engage fully.

A stylized webpage that shows an icon of the sound muted

Go Beyond Captions: Create Truly Accessible Digital Experiences with AudioEye

Digital accessibility is about more than just checking a box — it’s about creating an accessible experience where everyone, regardless of their hearing ability, can fully engage. While captions and transcripts enable Deaf and hard-of-hearing users can interact with content, true accessibility goes much further. By designing with assistive technologies in mind and applying core accessibility principles, you’re not just improving access for one group — you’re enhancing usability for all.

The best place to get started? AudioEye. At AudioEye, we take a three-pronged approach to accessibility, combining automation and human-assisted AI technology to find and fix digital accessibility issues for users. We start with a free accessibility scan that finds 30 WCAG violations (more than any other tool on the market) which our Automated Accessibility Platform automatically resolves. Our team of accessibility experts and members of the disability community supplement our automated testing, identifying more complex accessibility issues and recommending fixes. The result: a comprehensive approach to accessibility that saves you time, money, and provides peace of mind. 

Ready to get started? Use our free Web Accessibility Scanner to see how accessible your current content is. Or schedule a demo to see how AudioEye provides 400% more legal protection than automation or consulting-only approache

Additional Resources

Want to learn more about designing for accessibility? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Accessible Web Design. Or, dive into our favorite resources on how to support d/Deaf and hard of hearing co-workers and employees:

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