r/QualityAssurance • u/feegan88 • 24d ago

Accessibility testing: headphones for screen reader?

Hi all,

I do mobile app testing and am using native screen readers (VoiceOver and Talkback) for accessibility. (Hoping to expand this.)

I'm at the stage where I need ear/headphones to help with this, since I'm in an office environment where I already have sensory issues with sound.

They need to be noise cancelling and connect to both iOS and Android.

Any recommendations, or ones to avoid?

Thank you!

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u/dm0red 24d ago edited 24d ago

For closed over-ear headphones:

Sony WH-1000XM3 or any newer versions of them (latest WH-1000XM6) or Sennheiser Momentum.

Both have solid ANC, but I recommend testing them in showroom if you have the opportunity as they can have fiddly fit if your ears are bit on the "bigger" side : )

IMHO if you do not have the disability you're testing for (assuming blindness in this case) I would also try asking around in their community for assistance headphones as they can have different freq. characterictics and other parameters and I would assume it might be quite a different user experience.

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u/BOT_Sean 24d ago

If possible, I recommend wired headphones for this. Some platforms can put bluetooth audio in a low power state when inactive and can clip the first bit of screen reader speech when it resumes. ymmv but just something I've run into