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1.2.9Level AAAWCAG 2.0Auto-fix: Flag for manual review

Audio-only (Live)

An alternative for time-based media (a real-time text caption stream) is provided for live audio-only content.

What it requires

WCAG 2.0 SC 1.2.9 (AAA) covers live audio-only content — a podcast livestream, a radio-style audio-only event. The alternative is a real-time text stream of the audio.

Most Shopify storefronts do not host live audio-only events. The criterion is most relevant to media-publisher storefronts with a podcast component.

Common Shopify failure

A live audio-only Q&A session embedded on the storefront with no live captioning.

How to fix it

Contract a live-captioning vendor (3PlayMedia, Ai-Media) or run the audio through a live transcription service (Otter.ai live, Google Live Caption) and display the text alongside the audio embed.

Primary source: W3C — WCAG 2.0 Understanding 1.2.9