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Screen Reader Experience Agent
Test user journeys with real screen readers using natural language prompts.
Even if a website passes WCAG checks, it can still be difficult to use with a screen reader. Automated accessibility scanners check your code against accessibility rules. The Screen Reader Experience Agent checks whether a screen reader user can finish a task. It navigates your website using a real screen reader to test user journeys and find barriers to completing a task.
The Screen Reader Experience Agent is currently in beta. View the steps to request access.
How the Screen Reader Experience Agent works
The Screen Reader Experience Agent works in the following steps:
- Enter your URL and explain the user flow in natural language. For example, enter “Search for smartphones, click the first result, and add it to the cart.”
- The AI engine translates your task into contextual navigation decisions, driving NVDA, a real screen reader, on a real device.
- The agent finds barriers that a screen reader user might face, such as focus traps, unreachable controls, missing labels, and broken state announcements.
- Get a report that ranks issues by severity and includes audio logs, screenshots, and video replays.
What the agent checks
The agent runs 12 checks across the workflow. Every check maps to at least one WCAG success criterion, but the agent focuses on barriers a screen reader user hits while completing the workflow.
| Check | What it verifies | WCAG success criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Descriptive page title | Every page has a descriptive title that identifies the page and distinguishes it from other tabs. The agent flags generic titles such as “Untitled” or “Home”. | 2.4.2 Page Titled (A) |
| Logical focus start on page load | Focus lands at a sensible starting point on page load. | 2.4.3 Focus Order (A) |
| Working skip-to-content link | A working skip-to-content link is available among the first focusable elements so that a screen reader user can jump past repeated navigation. A skip link is one of several ways to meet 2.4.1. | 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks (A) |
| Meaningful accessible name | Every focusable control has a meaningful accessible name. The agent flags controls announced as empty or with only a generic role such as “button” or “link”. | 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A) |
| Unique accessible name | Within a landmark region, no two different controls share the exact same announced name. Duplicate names make it difficult to distinguish one control from another. | 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A), 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (AA) |
| Logical tab order | The tab sequence follows a logical order that matches the page’s visual and semantic meaning. The agent flags focus that jumps unexpectedly. | 2.4.3 Focus Order (A) |
| Keyboard-reachable controls | Every control required to complete the task is reachable by keyboard. | 2.1.1 Keyboard (A) |
| No keyboard trap | Keyboard focus never gets stuck cycling through the same small set of elements. | 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap (A) |
| Keyboard input in fields | Controls recognized as input fields accept typed keyboard input. | 2.1.1 Keyboard (A) |
| Feedback after an action | After you activate a control, the screen reader announces feedback such as new content, a status message, or a state change. The agent flags silence after activation. | 2.4.3 Focus Order (A), 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A), 4.1.3 Status Messages (AA) |
| Dialog focus and dismissal | Dialogs announce themselves, receive focus, keep focus contained until closed, and can be dismissed with the Escape key. | 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap (A), 2.4.3 Focus Order (A) |
| Form error announcement | After a form submission fails, an error message is announced through a live region or by moving focus to the error summary. | 3.3.1 Error Identification (A) |
The agent checks only the path your task follows, not the entire page. This means findings are relevant to the workflow you defined.
Request access to the beta
The Screen Reader Experience Agent is in beta. Follow these steps to request access:
- Log in to BrowserStack Accessibility Testing.
- In the sidebar, under Screen Reader, click Experience Agent.
- On the Screen Reader Experience Agent page, you get a confirmation message that your request is being processed.
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