Forum Discussion
Buttons with Text and Audio: how can I stop all audios from playing at the same time?
My third question is about the technical notes slide.
I use the markers like buttons. Clicking on it will display the text and start the audio.
At the moment it is possible to activate all markers at the same time, so that all audios can be played at the same time as well. But I don't want that.
I would like to be able to activate the next marker only when the previous audio has finished playing.
How can I stop all audios from playing at the same time instead of one by one?
Kind regards
Julia
You can insert audio into a Marker:
When you do that, the slide will play the audio when a marker is clicked. It will stop that audio if another marker is clicked, so there's no overlapping audio.
However, that doesn't prevent someone from clicking another marker before the audio finishes on the selected marker.
One way to do that is to put each audio file on its own layer. Set the Slide Layer Properties to prevent the user from clicking other layers (which includes the base). Also set them to hide the layer when the timeline ends.
Then add a trigger to each marker so it shows the appropriate layer when clicked.
I'll also add this unsolicited note: As a user, I dislike having to listen to audio that narrates the text on the screen. I can read faster than the audio, and I find it distracting and frustrating to be forced to listen to it.
Audio+text might be beneficial to some folks, such as those for whom the language isn't their first language, or those with certain reading disabilities. However, in most cases, playing audio that duplicates the text on screen has been shown to increase cognitive load. That, in turn, decreases learning.
Thus, if the audio doesn't include additional information, I recommend making it optional. This could be done with a button that toggles a T/F variable. For example, use True for playing audio, and False to keep things quiet. Then any trigger that plays audio (either directly or by opening a layer with the audio file) would include a condition, so the trigger would only run if the variable = True.
I'll add that audio will decrease cognitive load when it describes/explains what is happening visually on the slide. For example, if a graphic illustrates how blood flows through the heart while audio explains the movement, that makes it easier for the user to process the information.
Have you considered placing the audio inside the markers? This way, only the audio in the activated marker will play, preventing any overlap from other markers.
