Why can audio revolutionize the online content experience?
The audio feature for listening to online content is sometimes understood only as a service for special groups, such as the visually impaired. However, few people remember that they have read a book or two as an audiobook or that they have just posted a recommendation for an interesting podcast episode on social media.
What would happen if the opportunity to listen was regularly available on the website, and you could listen to the information you wanted while doing something else? An increasing number of companies and organisations have recognised this need and offer website visitors the opportunity to listen to the content on their websites. The audio feature serves users in a variety of ways, as it is possible to listen to interesting content at the same time while doing other activities. In addition, the website will be made more accessible to those who need it by providing support for understanding the text by means of a listening button, speed control and text tracking.
Online content and pages are also becoming more and more interactive. In addition to chatbots, news content is also already being shaped according to the reader's choices, as has been noticed in the country- and region-specific news coverage of the coronavirus epidemic.
Above all, the audio feature makes online content approachable and easy to use. At the same time, the page visitor is given the opportunity to choose the most suitable way of reading. It is situation-specific when the content to be read or listened to with the eyes serves the reader best.
Audio Feature and Blogs
Many of us enjoy blog posts, as they often offer either entertaining or educational content. However, sometimes it can be difficult to find time to search for information or read blog posts. Therefore, listening to text content offers a great development step for blogs.
In blogs, as with other websites, the goal is to maintain the reader's interest in the site so that the reader stays on the site as long as possible and returns to the content in the future. For this reason, the content must be relevant and interesting to the reader. In addition to interesting content, blogs should develop more individual ways to serve the reader in the future in order to have a positive impact on the time spent on the site. In the best case, listening to the blog post increases interest in the content on the page, increases the time spent on the site and thus also affects the increase of search engine visibility.
Audio content in the media
As soon as I wake up, I quickly check the news app on my phone to see what has happened around the world during the night. Does this sound familiar?
Many readers of both paper and digital newspapers would like to listen to the day's news, for example, already in the morning activities, which makes it possible to use the time spent browsing the newspaper more efficiently. Artificial intelligence makes this idea possible.
Thanks to the audio feature found directly on the page, news and articles can be listened to in online media publications as soon as they have been published. News is easily and conveniently available regardless of the situation of the reader of the online publication. Again, the reader is offered the best possible tools to enjoy the content in a way that suits them.
Various online content competes for consumers' attention. The popularity of podcasts and audiobooks already shows how easily consumable audio content takes the victory over separately demanding and visually readable content. It is a question of competition for consumers' time management and how to make reading effortless and content interesting.
Bringing the possibility of listening to the site is one way to increase interest in the content and influence the time spent on the page. In the future, self-recorded articles can provide variety, which can be used to replace news read with text-to-speech technology, if desired.
Utilizing the voice feature in online communication
For example, there are many websites of public actors that contain a huge amount of important information. It is also important that all users of the website have as diverse opportunities as possible to absorb the available information.
Accessibility Act largely defines the elements that must be found on the websites of public actors in order to guarantee accessibility. Many public organisations have wanted to offer easy-to-use and functional pages for everyone by enabling them to listen to textual content.
Can you imagine in which situations the ability to listen to websites is beneficial? For example, for a person struggling with reading text, listening to websites can be a necessary help. A website visitor may suffer from dyslexia, perceptual disorder or various visual problems. The reader may be elderly or the text on the website may be difficult to perceive because the written text is available in a language other than one's native language.
Listening to the textual content often enhances the understanding of the subject even for those who do not have special needs. However, especially on the websites of municipalities and cities, the user base is multilingual, and the information provided in a listenable format can reach a foreign-language speaker better than a written text. At best, text tracking and audio together make it possible for the message of the text to be conveyed to the page visitor, even if there are challenges in understanding the written text.
Why is it important to take different use situations into account in website design?
Website design is often done by a representative of the company or organization that implements the website, in which case the website corresponds to the designer's or author's own level of understanding and language. However, information is searched for online from many different starting points, which makes it good for websites to meet a wide range of needs. Up to a quarter of people suffer from various reading or perceptual disorders. There are also readers who start the car in a hurry while they are in an acute search for information. An elderly person looking for information online can also breathe a sigh of relief when they find a listening button on the website.
In many places, the use of audio in online content is still on the way, even though it would already be useful for most of us. Sound is also a great way to increase interest in the content offered. Taking into account different usage situations and offering a sound feature also brings to the content those who otherwise do not have time or are unable to familiarize themselves with the information on the site due to special situations without the listening option found on the website.
You can read about the audio trends of 2021 from our previous blog article.