What You’ll Learn
- What screen readers are, why they matter and how to use them
- What it’s like to navigate digital experiences using a screen reader
- How to get started testing accessibility with NVDA
- Why accessibility-focused design improves usability for everyone
Screen readers are one of the most powerful tools in the accessibility toolkit, yet they’re often misunderstood. If you’re new to accessibility testing or simply curious about how screen readers work, this guide offers a practical introduction, focusing on NVDA.
In this post, Cody Care, Accessibility Engineer at EBSCO Information Services, shares insight drawn from both hands-on accessibility testing and lived experience as a blind screen reader user. His perspective highlights how assistive technologies work in practice and how thoughtful design choices can make a meaningful difference.
Accessibility isn’t theoretical for me; it’s how I navigate the digital world every single day. As a blind professional, I rely on screen readers for everything from research and communication to managing my work and daily life. That lived experience, combined with hands-on accessibility testing at EBSCO, shapes how I evaluate digital interfaces and what “usable” truly means.
As EBSCO continues to invest in accessibility across our platforms and as evolving standards place renewed focus on inclusive digital experiences, understanding assistive technologies such as screen readers is essential. This post begins with one of the most widely used screen readers: NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA).
What Is a Screen Reader?
A screen reader is assistive technology that enables blind and low-vision users to interact with digital devices — computers, smartphones, smart TVs and even specialized equipment such as Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) keyboards. It converts visual information into speech or braille, making digital content accessible in ways that would otherwise be impossible.
From my own experience, I can think of countless moments where this technology allowed me to engage with the world in ways I simply couldn’t have a decade and a half ago. I remember a time when Wikipedia’s ads were implemented in such a way that made it impossible to hear my screen reader over them. When an ad finally ended, I could navigate the article, but as soon as a new ad loaded, focus reset and the cycle started again.
Today, that cycle is broken. Years of intentional accessibility work transformed Wikipedia into a resource that screen reader users can navigate with confidence. That progress didn’t happen by accident; it was the result of thoughtful design and sustained testing.
How Do Screen Readers Work?
Screen readers interpret the underlying code of an interface and present it audibly, following the page's logical structure. Unlike sighted users, who can scan and jump around visually, screen reader users experience content in a more linear fashion — similar to moving up and down a ladder, one element at a time. If you've ever navigated a page using only the keyboard, you've had a glimpse of this experience. Skip Links and proper semantic markup are essential for efficiency, and screen readers offer a robust set of hotkeys to help users move quickly between headings, links, and other elements. We'll explore those in detail in future tutorials.
Why Are Screen Readers Important?
With updated ADA Title II digital accessibility rules coming into effect in April 2026, many public websites, apps and digital services will be required to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards. Understanding assistive technologies like screen readers — and building interfaces that work well with them — isn't just good design; it's part of staying ahead of regulatory expectations.
Testing Tips
If you’re testing with NVDA, here are some important hotkeys and concepts to keep in mind:
- Start NVDA: Press Control + Alt + N.
- Silence speech: Press Control at any time.
- Avoid the mouse: It can produce false positives.
- Understand the NVDA key: By default, it’s Insert, but switching to Caps Lock under Keyboard settings can improve usability.
- Need help with hotkeys? Press NVDA key + 1 to activate Input Help mode. While in this mode, pressing a hotkey combination makes the screen reader announce the action associated with it. It’s one of the best ways to really learn what the screen reader can do.
- Access settings: Press NVDA key + N, then P for Preferences, and S for Settings.
- Adjust speech properties: Use NVDA key + Control + Left/Right arrows to browse options like voice, rate, pitch, and volume; use Up/Down arrows to adjust values.
Recommended Setting Adjustments
- Modifier key, under Keyboard: Switch to Caps Lock for convenience.
- Exit options, under General: Adjust whether or not you get a confirmation message when turning off NVDA.
- Voice settings, under Speech: Customize voice, rate, pitch, and punctuation.
- Enable highlighting, under Vision: Helps sighted testers follow focus.
- Report tooltips, under Object Presentation: Ensures Tooltips, often containing icon labels, are announced.
- Include layout tables under Browse Mode; important for catching improper table usage. You never want to use tables for anything other than data storage and organization.
Helpful Add-Ons
- Speech History: Lets you copy spoken text and review the last 100 lines—great for debugging.
- Focus Highlight: Visually indicates NVDA’s focus points. Review documentation for color meanings.
Additional Resources
Final Thoughts
Screen readers are foundational to inclusive design, and understanding how they work leads to better experiences for everyone. In practice, improvements that make interfaces clearer and more efficient for screen reader users often makes them better for everyone.
At EBSCO, accessibility is shaped by real-world use, continuous testing, and lived experience, not just guidelines on a checklist. This guide is a starting point. In future posts, we’ll continue exploring accessibility tools and testing approaches that help create more usable, resilient digital experiences for all users.
