Alert sound not heard on incoming calls

Problem: User receives an incoming call but cannot hear the alert sound. Call is visible and alerting in Voice for Browser. When the call is answered, the sound can be heard normally during the call.

Reason: Chrome and Edge browsers are preventing audio playback from a window, tab or iframe which the user hasn’t interacted with. This autoplay policy was developed by browser manufacturers to prevent unwanted audio from playing, such as audio or video advertisements.

Voice for Browser 2023.2.6 to 2023.3.1

(You can check your version from Voice for Browser > Menu > About)

Versions 2023.2.6 to 2023.3.1 offers two solutions to the problem:

1. User is made aware of the audio problem

Problem with alert sound is detected and the user is notified.

A desktop notification is displayed for the user (if notifications are permitted):

Also a dialog is displayed inside Voice for Browser. User needs to click on the Fix button to fix the audio problem:

This helps with the problem because browser requires user interaction (just a click) with the phone before allowing it to play audio. However, this only helps as long as the phone stays open. If the phone is reloaded, then the audio problem may appear again.

2. Audio handling mode can be configured

Voice for Browser 2023.2.6 and later can also be configured with two different options for handling the audio streams: Default and Legacy. This configuration option sets the selected mode for the whole organization.

Please note: this configuration option cannot be changed by the user, but instead it is a configuration option for Voice for Browser which is set when the phone is initialized in an embedded scenario. Please contact your admin user or Enreach support for further instructions.

Voice for Browser 2023.3.2 and later

This version has improved the above audio handling.

Please see more at: Keep audio devices always connected

Browser workarounds

If the above information doesn’t apply to you, there are also browser workarounds to help with the alert sound not playing back:

Browser-specific audio workarounds