IEC TR 62678:2010

Audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment activities and considerations related to accessibility and usability

IEC/TR 62678:2010(E) provides information on accessibility and usability terms, activities, completed and ongoing standards, technical reports, projects, and specifies user needs that may or may not apply to audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment. Comments about demographics and public policies are included. A checklist of accessibility and usability considerations is also included. Industry experts may or may not apply this information when they evaluate opportunities to integrate support for accessibility and usability in their work.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 12-Sep-2021
• ICS: 01 - GENERALITIES. TERMINOLOGY. STANDARDIZATION. DOCUMENTATION
• ICS: 29.140.10 - Lamp caps and holders
• ICS: 33.160.01 - Audio, video and audiovisual systems in general
• Technical Committee: TA 16 - Active Assisted Living (AAL), wearable electronic devices and technologies, accessibility and user interfaces
• Current Stage: WPUB - Publication withdrawn
• Completion Date: 13-Sep-2021

Standards Content (sample)

IEC/TR 62678
Edition 1.0 2010-10
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
Audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment activities and
considerations related to accessibility and usability
IEC/TR 62678:2010(E)
---------------------- Page: 1 ----------------------
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IEC/TR 62678
Edition 1.0 2010-10
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
Audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment activities and
considerations related to accessibility and usability
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
PRICE CODE
ICS 33.160.01 ISBN 978-2-88912-205-9
® Registered trademark of the International Electrotechnical Commission
---------------------- Page: 3 ----------------------
– 2 – TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E)
CONTENTS

FOREWORD...........................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................6

1 Scope...............................................................................................................................7

2 Normative references .......................................................................................................7

3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations ................................................................................7

3.1 Terms and definitions ..............................................................................................7

3.2 Abbreviations ..........................................................................................................8

4 Applications of terms and definitions ................................................................................9

4.1 Applications and intentions......................................................................................9

4.2 Applications of the terms: universal design, barrier-free design, accessibility,

and disability in Japan...........................................................................................10

4.3 Application of the term: barrier-free design in China ................................................12

4.4 User needs and accessibility in the U.S. ................................................................12

4.5 Universal design and design-for-all in Germany.....................................................13

4.6 French application of the terms usability and accessibility .....................................13

4.7 Use of terms and definitions for disability and disabled person in the UK...............13

4.8 Interchangeability of terms ....................................................................................14

5 Organizations and topic areas ........................................................................................14

5.1 Priorities................................................................................................................14

5.2 Resources for standards development...................................................................14

6 Completed standards, technical reports, and projects ...........................................................19

6.1 Compilation ...........................................................................................................19

6.2 Tabular list ............................................................................................................19

7 User needs.....................................................................................................................21

7.1 A range of user needs extracted from ISO/IEC TR 29138-1:2009 ..........................21

7.2 Tabular list ............................................................................................................21

8 Demographics ................................................................................................................27

8.1 Population growth .................................................................................................27

8.2 Reports from various nations.................................................................................27

9 Public policies ................................................................................................................27

9.1 Global policy .........................................................................................................27

9.2 Domestic policy .....................................................................................................27

10 Checklist of accessibility and usability considerations.....................................................28

11 Summary........................................................................................................................29

11.1 Use of terms and checklist ....................................................................................29

11.2 User needs and scenarios .....................................................................................30

Annex A (informative) UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities..................31

Annex B (informative) Comments about some IEC TC 100 standards which contain

accessibility considerations...................................................................................................

Annex C (informative) Research projects in Europe .............................................................34

Bibliography..........................................................................................................................40

Figure 1 – People and their particular user needs .................................................................

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TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E) – 3 –

Table 1 – Organizations and topic areas ...............................................................................15

Table 2 – Completed standards, technical reports, and projects............................................19

Table 3 – User needs (from ISO/IEC TR 29138-1:2009)........................................................22

Table 4 – Checklist of accessibility and usability considerations ...........................................29

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– 4 – TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E)
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
AUDIO, VIDEO AND MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT
ACTIVITIES AND CONSIDERATIONS RELATED TO
ACCESSIBILITY AND USABILITY
FOREWORD

1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising

all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote

international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To

this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,

Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC

Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested

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with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by

agreement between the two organizations.

2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international

consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all

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expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC

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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is

indispensable for the correct application of this publication.

9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of

patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a

technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected

data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for

example "state of the art".

IEC 62678, which is a technical report, has been prepared by IEC technical committee 100:

Audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment.
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
100/1688/DTR 100/1737/RVC

Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the

report on voting indicated in the above table.
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TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E) – 5 –

This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until

the stability date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data

related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.

IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates

that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct

understanding of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a

colour printer.
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– 6 – TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E)
INTRODUCTION

With an objective to research, review, and consider accessibility and usability and to start the

project, a survey was designed and distributed to the IEC TC100 P-members to obtain

information about the related issues, public policies, and activities. In April 2008, the survey

results were reported to the AGS (Bangkok, Thailand) and in November, 2008 the first in-

person meeting of the Project Team was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Subsequently, four global teleconferences, numerous electronic mail exchanges, and use of

the IEC on-line Collaboration Tools located at www.iec.ch occurred. The Project Team also

held an in-person meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel in October 2009. As a result of these sessions,

the Project Team produced this TR which attempts to explain the possible relevance of

accessibility and usability to the IEC TC100 programme of work. Every aspect of this TR may

or may not be appropriate for all IEC TC100 projects and / or participants. Likewise, this TR

may or may not address considerations for product designers. However, this TR does provide

information to assist the IEC TC100 standards experts in their accessibility and usability

research, review, and consideration.

Clause 2 (Normative references) includes those documents referenced in the main body of

this TR with the exception of Table 2. This document is numbered with other documents of the

Project Team, 002-012, dated 03/31/10.
This TR extracts and applies the user needs published in the ISO/IEC TR 29138-1,

Information Technology-Accessibility considerations for people with disabilities – Part 1: User

needs summary, paraphrased and extracted with permission.
This TR contains four informative annexes:

a) Annex A on the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

(paraphrased and extracted with permission),

b) Annex B which comments on some IEC TC100 standards which contain accessibility

considerations,
c) Annex C on research projects in Europe.
Every effort was made to include resources that are publicly accessible.
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TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E) – 7 –
AUDIO, VIDEO AND MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT
ACTIVITIES AND CONSIDERATIONS RELATED TO
ACCESSIBILITY AND USABILITY
1 Scope

This Technical Report (TR) provides information on accessibility and usability terms,

activities, completed and ongoing standards, technical reports, projects, and specifies user

needs that may or may not apply to audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment.

Comments about demographics and public policies are included. A checklist of accessibility

and usability considerations is also included. Industry experts may or may not apply this

information when they evaluate opportunities to integrate support for accessibility and

usability in their work.
2 Normative references

The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.

For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition

of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

ISO/IEC 25062:2006, Software product quality requirements and evaluation (SQuaRE) –

Common Industry Format (CIF) for usability test reports

ISO/IEC TR 29138-1:2009, Information technology – Accessibility considerations for people

with disabilities – Part 1: User needs summary
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1.1
accessibility

degree to which a product (e.g., device, service, and environment) is accessible by as many

people as possible

NOTE Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" the functionality, and possible benefit, of some

system or entity. Accessibility is often used to focus on people with disabilities and their right of access to entities,

often through use of assistive technology. Several definitions of accessibility refer directly to access-based

individual rights laws and regulations. Products or services designed to meet these regulations are often termed

“Easy Access” or “Accessible”. See: www.wikipedia.org
3.1.2
adaptive design
interoperability with assistive technology
NOTE See ISO/IEC Guide 71.
3.1.3
assistive technology

designates assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices designed to enable use by people

with disabilities or to enhance usability
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– 8 – TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E)
3.1.4
barrier-free design
design without barriers for individuals with disabilities
3.1.5
design-for-all
DFA

design and development of products and / or services with the aim that, regardless of age,

gender, capabilities, or cultural background, everyone can easily use and access a product

and / or service
3.1.6
disability

any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the

manner or within the range considered normal for a human being
NOTE See World Health Organization (WHO), www.who.int/en/
3.1.7
eAccessibility

access to mainstream information and communication technology (ICT) and audio video (AV)

products and services by the widest number of people in accordance with design-for-all (DFA)

NOTE See European Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation (ANEC)

also described as the “European consumer voice in standardisation” and the European Disability Forum (EDF).

3.1.8
universal design

design for usability by the widest range of users based on their sensory, physical, and

cognitive abilities
3.1.9
usability

extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with

effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use
NOTE See ISO 9241-11.
3.1.10
user accessibility need
user need

requirements of a product or its environment of use that improves accessibility to the system

for users whose abilities are reduced through environmental factors, injury, disability, or

natural degradation from aging
NOTE See ISO/IEC TR 29138-2: 2009.
3.2 Abbreviations
For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations apply.
ADA Americans with Disabilities Act
ANEC European Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation
in Standardisation
ASTC Advanced Television Systems Committee
AT Assistive Technology
CFR Code of Federal Regulations
---------------------- Page: 10 ----------------------
TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E) – 9 –
CIF Common Industry Format
dB decibel
DDA Disability Discrimination Act
DFA Design-For-All
EC European Commission
EU European Union
FY Fiscal Year
ICT Information and Communication Technology
ISO International Standards Organization
ITU International Telecommunication Union
ITU-T ITU Telecommunication Sector
JIS Japanese Industrial Standard
JISC Japanese Industrial Standards Committee
JCA-AHF Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human Factors
MEAC Measuring Progress of E-Accessibility in Europe
METI Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
MIC Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
MLIT Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
NWIP New Work Item Proposal
SQuaRE Software product quality requirements and evaluation
SWG-A Special Working Group on Accessibilty (of the ISO/IEC Joint Technical
Committee One, JTC1)
TA Technical Area
TR Technical Report
TRS Telecommunications Relay Service
VDT Visual Display Terminal
UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
U.S. United States of America
USC United States Code
U.S.FCC U.S. Federal Communications Commission
W3C World Wide Web Consortium
WHO World Health Organization
WG Working Group
4 Applications of terms and definitions
4.1 Applications and intentions

Although the application of terms and definitions related to accessibility and usability may

differ, often the meaning is the same: i.e. to reach as many people as possible. See Figure 1

which depicts the importance of the human aspect in accessibility / usability of terms and

definitions.
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– 10 – TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E)

Among the participants of a survey, designed and distributed to obtain information about

accessibility and usability issues, public policies and activities, Japan, China, the U.S.,

Germany, France and the UK described their use of terms and definitions. They stated that

individuals attempting to apply terms and definitions are also encouraged to research national

policies. IEC/TC 100 addresses many areas of audio, video and multimedia equipment

standardization. As the experts choose to consider the terminology for accessibility and

usability, they may use the “Checklist of accessibility and usability considerations” in Clause

11 of this TR.
universal
design
barrier-free
People and
their specific
and / or
particular
user need(s)
universal accessibility
design /
/ usability
design-for-all
(DFA)
IEC 2309/10

NOTE People and their specific and/or particular user need(s) are, figuratively, placed in the center of

terminology that expresses the intention to meet specific or particular user needs.

Figure 1 – People and their particular user needs

4.2 Applications of the terms: universal design, barrier-free design, accessibility, and

disability in Japan

The terms “universal design” and “barrier-free” are used in Japan to describe technology,

buildings, and other physical infrastructures. Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) X 8341

applies terms that may assist audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment standards

designers who address individuals with disabilities or individuals who are experiencing natural

degradation typically due to aging. JIS X 8341 provides information on ways to improve

accessibility, required when (primarily) elderly persons, persons with disabilities and those

with temporary disabilities use office equipment. The standard gives information concerning

the usability aspects when planning, developing and designing office equipment. In this case,

office equipment refers to copying machines, multifunction devices, and page printers that are

used in office environments.
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TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E) – 11 –

In Japan, the term “accessibility" is used to communicate a few concepts with regard to

information. Specifically, “accessibility” in Japan is used to communicate the concepts of

accessible, usable, and useful information. Generally, the term is used to communicate where

“the user can use equipment and services smoothly”. The previous text includes an informal

translation of the definition for the term “accessibility”.

NOTE 1 See Barrier-Free, Universal Design Promotion Outline of Japan’s Cabinet Office.

NOTE 2 See Japan’s Info-Communication Access Council.

The term “accessibility” is defined in Japan for the information technology sector by the

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) to address all people including, elderly

and disabled persons so they can use information technology products, services and facilities

without difficulty.

NOTE 3 Source for documents published in the Japanese: http://www.soumu.go.jp/s-news/2005/051215_1.html

For the terms “accessibility” and “usability” used with respect to equipment and services the

JIS Z 8071 standard may be followed. The scope of JIS Z 8071 begins as follows: “This guide

provides guidance to writers of relevant standards on how to take into account the needs of

older persons and persons with disabilities. Whilst recognizing that some people with very

extensive and complex disabilities may have requirements beyond the level addressed in this

Guide, a very large number of people have minor impairments which can be easily addressed

by relatively small changes of approach in standards, thereby increasing the market for the

product or service”.

The scope of JIS Z 8071 continues, as follows “this Guide aims to inform, increase

understanding and raise awareness about how human abilities impact on the usability of

products, services and environments”. As stated in the scope, JIS Z 8071 aims to outline the

relationship between the requirements in standards and the accessibility and usability of

products and services and to raise awareness about the benefits of adopting accessible

design principles in terms of wider markets. The scope explains that the Guide applies to

products, services and environments encountered in all aspects of daily life and intended for

the consumer market and the workplace.

According to the Japanese “Physical Disability Welfare Act (informal translation)”, enacted in

1951, which was partially amended to define disability for people of 18 years of age and older,

the term “disability” consists of various types of disabilities including sight, hearing, and motor

skills. Glaucoma, total blindness, and amblyopic conditions are also included. Notably, colour-

blindness, conditions of cataract, and the degradation of sight due to aging are not included.

Therefore, an all-encompassing definition of “disability” is not intended. The concept of a

hearing disability, in Japan, addresses a specific hearing disability of 70 decibel (dB) and

above, but does not include degradation due to aging which results in hearing loss of sounds

at higher frequencies.

The participants in the IEC/TC 100 from the Japanese National Committee comment that as

the AV products decrease in their size and the functions of such products change, improved

usability and added convenience results for those individuals experiencing natural

degradation due to aging or due to disabilities. Reportedly, some Japanese industries share a

common concept surrounding the improvement of usability. That is, the concept of "universal

design" which has applications in various industrial areas and is useful for communication

purposes. According to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI),

regardless of one’s culture, language, nationality, age, gender, or disability, “universal design”

expresses how one can use products, facilities, and information. The “universal design”

concept, in Japan, remains general and widely used for industrial products and product

features.
NOTE 4 See http://www.meti.go.jp/report/data/g00828bj.html.
NOTE 5 See http://www.meti.go.jp/report/downloadfiles/g10522cj.pdf.
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– 12 – TR 62678 © IEC:2010(E)

In Japan, “barrier free design” applies to public transportation infrastructure and buildings.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) promotes “barrier free” to

communicate the concept that, regardless of disability, age, sex, and race, easy operation

including life-style and environment are provided.
NOTE 6 See http://www.mlit.go.jp/sogoseisaku/barrierfree/index.html
NOTE 7 See http://www.mlit.go.jp/sogoseisaku/barrier/mokuji_.html
NOTE 8 See http://www.mlit.go.jp/kisha/kisha05/01/010711_.html

Japan’s “Law for accessible transportation and facilities” (known as the ‘New Barrier-Free

Law’) communicates barrier-free design. Japan’s MLIT promulgates this law as the position of

the “General Principles of Universal Design Policy.”
NOTE 9 See http://www.mlit.go.jp/kisha/kisha05/01/010711/04.pdf

Although the physical infrastructure, including buildings, remains out of the scope of this TR,

mentioning this aspect assists in describing the overall trend of helping people. Other data

include the FY 2005 reports that the awareness of universal design was 64,3 % in Japan and

the awareness of barrier-free was 93,8 %.
NOTE 10 See “The Japanese People’s Awareness
...