Research, Insights, and AudioEye's Unique Approach to Accessibility
TUCSON, Ariz., April 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AudioEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: AEYE), the industry-leading digital accessibility platform delivering website accessibility compliance to businesses of all sizes, today released a white paper on the state of accessibility and the company's innovative approach to closing the web accessibility gap.
"While society's reliance on the internet increases at a fast pace, progress on making every website accessible to people with disabilities remains slow and uneven," said David Moradi, CEO at AudioEye. "To close the digital accessibility gap, we need an approach that can tackle the scale of the internet, the speed of content creation, and the scope of accessibility issues allowing equal access to every website user, while providing businesses and content creators with a sustainable and affordable solution for the long term."
Accessibility vendors on the market today range from simple automation-only solutions to labor-intensive, expensive manual audits. AudioEye's research, which included user surveys and both automated and manual analysis of websites across industries, shows that the most effective and affordable way to solve web accessibility is through a hybrid solution which pairs technology with subject matter experts.
By 2030, almost two billion people are expected to be using assistive technology, such as screen readers. This consideration means solving digital accessibility issues at scale is critical to ensuring that everyone, regardless of ability, can use and benefit from the internet.
Key challenges in accessibility today
There are currently 1.9 billion websites online, with more than 250,000 new sites going live every day. Based on AudioEye's calculations in this table and assuming the websites are of average complexity, it would take approximately 167 billion hours for a person to fix every website manually, or more than 80 million implementers working for an entire year. If the average implementer is able to make source code fixes and works 40 hours a week at an annual wage of $100K, the solution would still require 40 million implementers working for an entire year at the cost of $4 trillion USD to fix just half of the websites on the internet.
On March 18th, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) published web accessibility guidance, reaffirming that the Americans with Disabilities Act's (ADA) accessibility requirements apply to digital content. In the release, the DOJ discusses the importance of web accessibility, advocates the use of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and lists a number of recent settlements with businesses, demonstrating its ongoing efforts and commitment to website accessibility.
Despite the growing awareness of digital accessibility in the private sector, renewed efforts by government, and expectations of inclusivity, the following challenges continue to impact progress:
AudioEye research findings and discussion
"When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, in many cases making digital the only channel through which customers could interact with brands, Forrester saw a significant uptick in inquiries related to accessibility, mostly from companies getting serious about accessibility for the first time. The pandemic served as a wake-up call not just about the importance of digital accessibility but also about its benefits...," wrote Gina Bhawalkar, Principal Analyst at Forrester in Digital Accessibility Enters The Spotlight As A Business Priority, April 2021.
AudioEye's hybrid approach to digital accessibility
AudioEye's technology was built and improved over time to first and foremost address the needs of the end user. This meant equipping website owners with the tools and knowledge they need to fix the majority of accessibility errors for every user in real-time and to monitor and remediate issues on an ongoing basis. Based on continuous research, end user feedback, and innovation, AudioEye's patented JavaScript-enabled automation:
While automation helps provide rapid improvements at scale, it cannot fix issues that depend on deeper contextual understanding and direct human experience. AudioEye's team of experts and assistive technology users provide the following services:
Download the complete Building for Digital Accessibility at Scale white paper.
About AudioEye
AudioEye is an industry-leading digital accessibility platform delivering ADA and WCAG compliance at scale. By combining easy-to-use technology and subject matter expertise, AudioEye helps companies and content creators solve every aspect of web accessibility--from finding and resolving issues to navigating legal compliance, to ongoing monitoring and upkeep. Trusted by the FCC, ADP, SSA, Samsung, and others, AudioEye delivers automated remediations and continuous monitoring for accessibility issues without making fundamental changes to website architecture, source code, or browser-based tools. Join us on our mission to eradicate barriers to digital access, visit www.audioeye.com.
Corporate Contact:
AudioEye, Inc.
Dr. Carr Bettis, Executive Chairman
[email protected]
Press Contact:
Andy McGowan
CommCore Consulting Group
[email protected]
Investor Contact:
Matt Glover or Tom Colton
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(949) 574-3860
SOURCE AudioEye, Inc.
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