[autocomplete] Firefox browser || Issue in autocomplete in case of accessibility when using mac's voiceover - not able to read options

[gaurav7576]

Steps to reproduce

Steps:

1. Open this link to live example: (https://mui.com/material-ui/react-autocomplete/))
2. Issue on firefox browser
3. On mac device, enable voiceover
4. Use keyboard for options change
5. Options selection is not working properly

Current behavior

Options selection is not working as per accessibility in firefox, working fine in case of chrome/edge browser

Expected behavior

Options must be selected as per accessibility in firefox, working fine in case of chrome/edge browser

Context

Issue in mac device, firefox browser for accessibility support

Your environment

Issue in MUI demo: https://mui.com/material-ui/react-autocomplete/

Search keywords: autocomplete-voiceover-reading-options

Order ID: 59921

Search keywords:

[LukasTy]

Thank you for the issue.
I can confirm that the issue is reproducible using the suggested way of using the combobox.
If you click Control+Option+Space to open the combobox, then ArrowDown closes it.
It behaves as expected on Chrome.

I'll note that this behavior is not reproducible if you open the combobox with the arrow, then navigation and selection is working.

[gaurav7576]

Dear @LukasTy
I tried using same suggested but still facing same issue and in fact shifting focus to skip content directly which is also not a good user experience.

[kartikjsonawane]

Hey! I reproduced this on Firefox with macOS VoiceOver. From what I can tell, the issue is with how Firefox handles aria-activedescendant — when you navigate options with the keyboard, Firefox doesn't announce the focused option through VoiceOver like Chrome/Edge do.
This seems to be a known Firefox + VoiceOver quirk where updates to aria-activedescendant don't always trigger announcements unless the option element is explicitly focused or a live region speaks the change.
One possible workaround could be adding a visually hidden aria-live region that announces the currently highlighted option as the user navigates — that would patch the Firefox/VoiceOver gap without affecting other browsers.
Happy to dig into it more and put up a PR if the team is open to it

[michelengelen]

Hey! I reproduced this on Firefox with macOS VoiceOver. From what I can tell, the issue is with how Firefox handles aria-activedescendant — when you navigate options with the keyboard, Firefox doesn't announce the focused option through VoiceOver like Chrome/Edge do. This seems to be a known Firefox + VoiceOver quirk where updates to aria-activedescendant don't always trigger announcements unless the option element is explicitly focused or a live region speaks the change. One possible workaround could be adding a visually hidden aria-live region that announces the currently highlighted option as the user navigates — that would patch the Firefox/VoiceOver gap without affecting other browsers. Happy to dig into it more and put up a PR if the team is open to it

If you could do that it would be highly appreciated! 🙇🏼