Only 25 percent of the automated check-in kiosks an airline or airport controls in each location must be able to talk to a blind traveler, and that floor was set in 2013 with a compliance date of December 12, 2022 (US DOT, 14 CFR 382.57). Outside airports there is still no final US technical standard for self-checkout lanes, ordering screens or retail kiosks. Meanwhile CDC estimates 32.17 million Americans had some presenting visual acuity loss in 2024, and in a CNIB survey 64.14% of blind and partially sighted Canadians hit barriers when trying to use self-serve technology. The kiosk market itself keeps compounding at double-digit rates. We aggregated data from the US Department of Transportation, the US Access Board, CDC’s Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System, the American Foundation for the Blind, WebAIM, the European Commission, peer-reviewed accessibility studies and SEC filings from NCR Voyix and Diebold Nixdorf. For the voice side of the story, our roundup on accessible voting machines and audio ballots covers a parallel speech-output mandate.
TL;DR
- 25% of airline and airport kiosks per location must meet accessible design, including speech output, at US airports with 10,000+ annual enplanements (US DOT Final Rule 2013).
- Every airport kiosk installed on or after December 12, 2016 must be an accessible model (US DOT, 14 CFR 382.57).
- Accessible kiosks must amplify speech to at least 65 dB SPL, with a 20 dB gain above ambient in noisy terminals (US DOT, 14 CFR 382.57).
- 32.17 million Americans had presenting visual acuity loss in 2024, a 9.46% prevalence (CDC VEHSS 2024 estimates).
- 49.5 million US adults report some difficulty seeing, 420,000 cannot see at all (AFB analysis of NHIS 2024).
- 64.14% of 731 blind and partially sighted Canadians faced barriers using self-serve technology (Vozza et al., Technology and Disability 2024).
- 60.90% of the same respondents said they would not keep using self-serve kiosks (Vozza et al., Technology and Disability 2024).
- 91.3% of screen reader users run a screen reader on a mobile device (WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey #10, 2024).
- The EU Accessibility Act covers check-in and ticketing machines from 28 June 2025, with a 20-year cap on legacy terminals (Directive 2019/882).
- Self-service kiosk market: USD 16.24 billion in 2026, USD 28.41 billion by 2031 (Mordor Intelligence 2026).
- US cashier jobs are projected to fall 6% from 2025 to 2035, partly due to self-service checkout (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2025).
- DOT valued the kiosk rule’s 10-year benefits at USD 42.0 million against USD 36.1 million in costs at a 3% discount rate (US DOT Final Rule 2013).
1. Who Needs a Talking Kiosk: The Vision-Loss Population
The audience for speech output is not a niche. CDC’s newest modeled estimates count 32.17 million Americans with some presenting visual acuity loss in 2024, and 7.15 million whose vision cannot be corrected with glasses or contacts. A touchscreen with no audio path, no tactile keys and no headset jack is effectively a locked door for the most severe slice of that group, and a slow, error-prone one for everyone else.
Age is the multiplier. About 13.17 million of the CDC total are 65 or older (10.13 million aged 65 to 84 plus 3.04 million aged 85 and over), which is exactly the group being steered toward airport and grocery self-service as staffed counters shrink. Survey measures run higher than clinical models because they capture self-reported difficulty: the 2024 National Health Interview Survey counts 49.5 million adults with some trouble seeing, per the American Foundation for the Blind’s NHIS summary. The full CDC breakdown is on the VEHSS vision loss prevalence page.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Americans with any presenting visual acuity loss, 2024 | 32.17 million (9.46%) | CDC VEHSS 2024 modeled estimates |
| Americans with best corrected visual acuity loss | 7.15 million (2.10%) | CDC VEHSS 2024 modeled estimates |
| Americans who are blind (20/200 or worse) | Over 700,000 | CDC VEHSS 2024 modeled estimates |
| People with vision loss aged 65 to 84 / 85+ | 10.13 million / 3.04 million | CDC VEHSS 2024 modeled estimates |
| US adults reporting any difficulty seeing | 49.5 million | AFB analysis of NHIS 2024 |
| Adults with a lot of trouble seeing / cannot see at all | 3.8 million / 420,000 | AFB analysis of NHIS 2024 |
| People with vision difficulty (ACS definition) | About 9 million | AFB analysis of ACS 2024 |
| People with vision difficulty below the poverty line | 22.9% (vs 10.8% without disabilities) | AFB analysis of ACS 2024 |
The three US counts differ because they measure different things: VEHSS models measured acuity, NHIS asks about any trouble seeing, and the ACS asks about serious difficulty. Globally, the WHO blindness and visual impairment fact sheet puts the figure at 2.2 billion people with near or distance vision impairment.
2. The Airport Kiosk Rule: 25%, 2016 and 2022
US aviation is the only American setting with a hard, numeric speech-output quota for public kiosks. The DOT rule requires that at least 25 percent of the kiosks a carrier or airport controls in each location at a US airport with 10,000 or more enplanements meet the accessible design, with a December 12, 2022 deadline. Any kiosk installed on or after December 12, 2016 must already be an accessible model, so the quota mainly governs how fast legacy hardware had to be retired.
Seen another way, the rule accepted that three out of four kiosks in a bank could stay silent. The National Federation of the Blind, in its 2022 comments to the Access Board, criticized the airline standard for requiring “only 25 percent” accessibility and asked that 100 percent of inaccessible stock eventually be replaced. The rule text lives in 14 CFR 382.57 on eCFR, and the economics are in the 2013 DOT final rule.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum share of accessible kiosks per airport location | 25% | US DOT, 14 CFR 382.57 |
| Airport size threshold for the kiosk rule | 10,000+ annual enplanements | US DOT Final Rule 2013 |
| Date after which every newly installed kiosk must be accessible | December 12, 2016 | US DOT, 14 CFR 382.57 |
| Deadline to reach the 25% quota | December 12, 2022 | US DOT Final Rule 2013 |
| 10-year kiosk benefits vs costs, 7% discount rate | USD 34.8 million vs USD 34.9 million | US DOT Final Rule 2013 (Regulatory Evaluation) |
| 10-year kiosk benefits vs costs, 3% discount rate | USD 42.0 million vs USD 36.1 million | US DOT Final Rule 2013 (Regulatory Evaluation) |
| Comments received on the 2011 supplemental proposal | 84 | US DOT Final Rule 2013 |
| Highest single-day TSA checkpoint volume in 2026 data (to Oct 1) | 2,981,485 (June 21, 2026) | TSA Checkpoint Travel Numbers 2026 |
Most recent available data on the rule’s economics: US DOT, 2013. The near-break-even cost-benefit result at a 7% discount rate helps explain why DOT chose a partial quota rather than full replacement. Kiosks reopen in Congress’s agenda: Section 541 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 extended the Air Carrier Access Act Advisory Committee to September 30, 2028 and tasked it with “accessibility of websites, kiosks, and information communication technology” (Federal Register, September 3, 2025).
3. What “Speech Output” Means in the Specs
Speech output is not just a text-to-speech chip. The DOT standard requires amplification to at least 65 dB SPL and, when ambient noise exceeds 45 dB SPL, a user-selectable gain of at least 20 dB above ambient, plus spoken versions of every visible prompt, input verification and error message. Braille instructions must explain how to start the speech mode, and timed screens must warn the user by sound or touch and allow more time. The speech must come through a mechanism available to all users, such as an industry standard connector or a telephone handset.
The federal procurement standard follows the same logic. Section 508’s “closed functionality” provisions require speech-output enabled hardware to carry braille instructions on how to start speech mode, with compliance required since January 18, 2018 (Access Board ICT final rule, 2017). The practical result: a compliant kiosk is designed for audio from the hardware up, which is why retrofits are expensive and why the airline rule tied compliance to replacement cycles. Another place where spoken output for blind audiences is mandated by rule is covered in our roundup on audio description in streaming TV.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum speech output amplification | 65 dB SPL | US DOT, 14 CFR 382.57 |
| Gain above ambient when ambient exceeds 45 dB SPL | At least 20 dB, user selectable | US DOT, 14 CFR 382.57 |
| Minimum character height / luminosity contrast | 3/16 inch (4.8 mm) / 3:1 | US DOT, 14 CFR 382.57 |
| Screen visibility reference point | 40 inches above center of clear floor space | US Access Board ANPRM 2022 (citing ADA/ABA Guidelines) |
| Clear floor space minimum | 30 by 48 inches | US Access Board ANPRM 2022 (citing ADA/ABA Guidelines) |
| Maximum operating force for controls | 5 pounds | US Access Board ANPRM 2022 (citing ADA/ABA Guidelines) |
| Section 508 closed-functionality compliance date | January 18, 2018 | US Access Board ICT Final Rule 2017 |
Context note: Section 508’s regulatory impact analysis projected annualized benefits of USD 32.0 million to USD 187.4 million against costs of USD 111.5 million to USD 287.4 million (2018 to 2027) for the whole ICT refresh, not kiosks alone. Most recent available data: US Access Board, 2017.
4. Beyond Airports: Retail, Health Care and Global Rules
Self-checkout and restaurant ordering screens sit in a regulatory gap in the United States. The US Access Board’s advance notice on self-service transaction machines and kiosks was published September 21, 2022, with comments due November 21, 2022, and it followed a first advance notice from March 2010, yet as of October 2026 there is still no final retail standard. The ANPRM text describes the airport rule’s requirement that at least a quarter of kiosks at each airport location be accessible as existing precedent.
Other jurisdictions moved faster or more broadly. The European Accessibility Act names ATMs, ticketing machines, check-in machines and interactive information terminals, applying from 28 June 2025 (Directive 2019/882 on EUR-Lex). Canada’s transportation regulations require kiosks in terminals to meet the CSA B651.2-07 standard (SOR/2019-244). In US health care, HHS folded kiosks into a Section 504 subpart on web, mobile and kiosk accessibility, then pushed the web and mobile technical deadlines back a year in 2026.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US Access Board SSTM and kiosk ANPRM published | September 21, 2022 | US Access Board ANPRM 2022 |
| Earlier US advance notice on SSTMs | March 2010 | US Access Board ANPRM 2022 |
| EU Accessibility Act application date for self-service terminals | 28 June 2025 | European Union, Directive 2019/882 |
| Maximum life for legacy EU terminals kept in service | 20 years | European Union, Directive 2019/882 (Recital 101) |
| Canadian kiosk standard in transport terminals | CAN/CSA-B651.2-07 (R2017) | Canada, SOR/2019-244, s. 11 |
| Canadian priority-access signage period for accessible kiosks | 2 years | Canada, SOR/2019-244, s. 12 |
| HHS Section 504 web and mobile deadline, 15+ employees | Moved from May 11, 2026 to May 11, 2027 | HHS Interim Final Rule, Federal Register May 11, 2026 |
| HHS deadline, fewer than 15 employees | Moved from May 10, 2027 to May 10, 2028 | HHS Interim Final Rule, Federal Register May 11, 2026 |
The HHS delay applies to the WCAG-based web and mobile standard in 84.84(b); HHS estimated annualized savings of USD 114.3 million (7% rate) against benefit losses of USD 204.6 million from the delay. Litigation has filled part of the US gap: a 2016 class settlement with Redbox, publicized by the NFB, required at least one modified kiosk with a standard headphone jack at each retail location in all states except California, plus USD 397,000 in fees and costs (most recent available data: NFB, 2016). Our ADA Title III web accessibility lawsuit roundup tracks the broader filing trend.
5. The User Experience Gap: What Blind Customers Report
Rules describe the hardware; surveys describe the result. In a CNIB survey of 731 blind, Deafblind and partially sighted Canadians, 64.14% faced barriers completing a task with self-serve technology, and 60.90% said they would not continue using self-serve kiosks in the future (Vozza et al., Technology and Disability 2024). Human assistance was required in most instances, which means a kiosk deployed to save staff time often creates a staffed exception queue instead.
The irony is that blind users are heavy technology users on their own terms. 91.3% of screen reader users run one on a phone (WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey #10), so the skill exists; what fails is the closed, touch-only public terminal. Researchers have even built a robot that clicks on inaccessible kiosks on a blind user’s behalf, relaying content to the user’s own phone (Li et al., CHI 2023), a workaround that only makes sense because the kiosk itself does not speak.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Canadian survey respondents (blind, Deafblind, partially sighted) | 731 (3.5% response rate) | Vozza et al., Technology and Disability 2024 (CNIB survey) |
| Faced barriers completing a task with technology | 64.14% | Vozza et al., Technology and Disability 2024 |
| Did not enjoy using self-serve kiosks | 65.74% | Vozza et al., Technology and Disability 2024 |
| Would not continue using self-serve kiosks | 60.90% | Vozza et al., Technology and Disability 2024 |
| Screen reader users on a mobile device | 91.3% (1,539 responses) | WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey #10, 2024 |
| Smartphone ownership, vision difficulty vs no disability | 82.1% vs 94.4% | AFB analysis of ACS 2024 |
| Home broadband, vision difficulty vs no disability | 63.7% vs 79.4% | AFB analysis of ACS 2024 |
| Labor force participation ages 16 to 64, vision difficulty vs none | 47% vs 75% | AFB analysis of CPS March 2025 |
The smartphone gap matters for policy: “use the app instead” is not an equivalent alternative when 17.9% of people with vision difficulty lack a smartphone (100% minus 82.1%, AFB analysis of ACS 2024). A 2026 scoping review of airport accessibility screened 3,555 unique records, kept 14 peer-reviewed studies, and found that check-in kiosks and assistance apps “are not always compatible with assistive tools such as screen readers or voice commands” (Hadj Hassen et al., Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences 2026). For the outdoor equivalent of audio wayfinding, see our data on tactile paving and pedestrian audio cues.
6. Market Growth and the Shift From Cashiers to Screens
The pressure behind accessibility rules is volume. Mordor Intelligence values the self-service kiosk market at USD 16.24 billion in 2026, growing at 11.84% a year to USD 28.41 billion by 2031, with North America holding 38.74% of 2025 revenue (Mordor Intelligence 2026). MarketsandMarkets uses a broader interactive kiosk definition and lands higher: USD 21.85 billion in 2025 and USD 35.65 billion by 2030 (MarketsandMarkets). Both are third-party estimates, not audited figures.
Every new lane that replaces a staffed register widens the share of transactions that depend on a screen. BLS expects cashier employment to decline 6% from 2025 to 2035, citing “self-service checkout stands in retail stores” among the causes (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). The two largest US-listed vendors describe self-checkout as core business in their 2025 annual reports: NCR Voyix says its self-checkout lets consumers “transact independently, reducing the staff required,” and Diebold Nixdorf reports 21 of the top 25 European retailers as customers (Diebold Nixdorf 10-K 2025).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service kiosk market size, 2026 / 2031 | USD 16.24 billion / USD 28.41 billion (11.84% CAGR) | Mordor Intelligence 2026 (third-party estimate) |
| Interactive kiosk market size, 2025 / 2030 | USD 21.85 billion / USD 35.65 billion (10.3% CAGR) | MarketsandMarkets (third-party estimate) |
| US interactive kiosk market, 2025 / 2030 | USD 6.79 billion / USD 9.53 billion (7.0% CAGR) | MarketsandMarkets (third-party estimate) |
| Hardware share of kiosk market revenue, 2025 | 57.02% | Mordor Intelligence 2026 |
| US cashier jobs, 2025 | 3,106,300 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2025 |
| Projected cashier employment change, 2025 to 2035 | -6% (200,600 jobs) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2025 |
| Diebold Nixdorf employees / countries | About 20,000 / 100+ | Diebold Nixdorf Form 10-K 2025 |
| NCR Voyix employees / US patents | About 13,500 / 900+ | NCR Voyix Form 10-K 2025 |
Outlier note: South Korea shows how fast deployment can outrun access. A 2026 Frontiers in Public Health study reports that private-sector kiosk installations more than tripled versus 2019, with a 4.1-fold increase in food service and convenience stores, and that a 2025 amendment to Korea’s disability discrimination law requires barrier-free kiosks meeting Ministry of Science and ICT standards (as cited in Frontiers in Public Health 2026, doi 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1660819). Accessible transit is the other frontier: our wheelchair-accessible transit station elevator statistics show similar gaps between mandates and working equipment.
Summary: Self-Service Kiosk and Airport Check-In Speech Output Accessibility by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum accessible share of airport kiosks per location | 25% | US DOT, 14 CFR 382.57 |
| 25% quota deadline | December 12, 2022 | US DOT Final Rule 2013 |
| Speech output amplification minimum | 65 dB SPL | US DOT, 14 CFR 382.57 |
| Kiosk rule 10-year benefits vs costs (3% rate) | USD 42.0 million vs USD 36.1 million | US DOT Final Rule 2013 |
| Americans with presenting visual acuity loss | 32.17 million (9.46%) | CDC VEHSS 2024 estimates |
| Americans who are blind | Over 700,000 | CDC VEHSS 2024 estimates |
| US adults with any difficulty seeing | 49.5 million | AFB analysis of NHIS 2024 |
| People worldwide with vision impairment | 2.2 billion | WHO Fact Sheet |
| Blind Canadians facing kiosk task barriers | 64.14% | Vozza et al., Technology and Disability 2024 |
| Would stop using self-serve kiosks | 60.90% | Vozza et al., Technology and Disability 2024 |
| Screen reader users on mobile | 91.3% | WebAIM Survey #10, 2024 |
| Smartphone ownership, vision difficulty | 82.1% | AFB analysis of ACS 2024 |
| US Access Board kiosk ANPRM | September 21, 2022 | US Access Board ANPRM 2022 |
| EU Accessibility Act for check-in machines | 28 June 2025 | Directive 2019/882 |
| Self-service kiosk market, 2026 | USD 16.24 billion | Mordor Intelligence 2026 |
| Interactive kiosk market, 2025 | USD 21.85 billion | MarketsandMarkets |
| Cashier employment change, 2025 to 2035 | -6% | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
- US Department of Transportation, 14 CFR 382.57, accessible automated airport kiosks (current eCFR text; read via a plain-text mirror because eCFR blocked direct fetching).
- US Department of Transportation, Final Rule: Accessibility of Web Sites and Automated Kiosks at U.S. Airports, Federal Register, November 12, 2013.
- US Department of Transportation, Air Carrier Access Act Advisory Committee notice, Federal Register, September 3, 2025.
- US Access Board, ANPRM on Self-Service Transaction Machines and Self-Service Kiosks, Federal Register, September 21, 2022.
- US Access Board, ICT Standards and Guidelines Final Rule, Federal Register, January 18, 2017.
- US Department of Health and Human Services, Interim Final Rule extending Section 504 web and mobile compliance dates, Federal Register, May 11, 2026.
- CDC, Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System, vision loss prevalence (2024 estimates).
- American Foundation for the Blind, NHIS facts and figures, demographics from ACS 2024, technology access and employment statistics.
- World Health Organization, Blindness and vision impairment fact sheet.
- Vozza J. et al., Accessibility and usability of self-serve kiosks for blind and partially sighted Canadians, Technology and Disability 2024.
- Hadj Hassen A. et al., Navigating airports: a scoping review, Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences 2026.
- WebAIM, Screen Reader User Survey #10 (December 2023 to January 2024 fieldwork).
- European Union, Directive (EU) 2019/882, European Accessibility Act.
- Government of Canada, Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations, SOR/2019-244.
- National Federation of the Blind, comments on the Access Board SSTM ANPRM (2022) and Redbox class settlement notice.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Cashiers.
- Diebold Nixdorf, Form 10-K for 2025; NCR Voyix, Form 10-K for 2025.
- TSA, Checkpoint travel numbers.
- Mordor Intelligence, Self-Service Kiosk Market; MarketsandMarkets, Interactive Kiosk Market (third-party estimates).
- Data watch: The DOT kiosk rule’s cost-benefit figures date from 2013 and the Section 508 impact analysis from 2017; no federal agency publishes a count of accessible versus inaccessible kiosks, so compliance with the 25% quota cannot be verified from public data. US vision-loss counts differ by design (CDC VEHSS models measured acuity; NHIS and ACS are self-reported). The two market sizes are not comparable: MarketsandMarkets covers the broader interactive kiosk category, Mordor covers self-service kiosks, and neither discloses full methodology publicly. The CNIB survey had a 3.5% response rate and may over-represent motivated respondents. Korean kiosk growth figures are cited secondhand from a peer-reviewed article. The Redbox settlement dates from 2016. The DOT disability complaint report and the Grand View Research kiosk page could not be retrieved (404 and bot block). The Access Board has not published a final SSTM rule; a proposed rule would change the US picture materially.
Last updated: October 4, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when the US Access Board publishes its next action on self-service transaction machines or CDC releases its next VEHSS prevalence update.