diff --git a/.jules/palette.md b/.jules/palette.md
index a9a9d8d5..4847d8f6 100644
--- a/.jules/palette.md
+++ b/.jules/palette.md
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 ## 2024-05-15 - Enhancing Generated File Tree HTML
 **Learning:** Raw directory listings generated into HTML often lack critical accessibility meta tags (like `lang="en"`, `viewport` for responsive scaling) and aria-labels for directory/file links (which are otherwise non-descriptive for screen readers like just `&#128193; folderName`).
-**Action:** Always include base semantic structures (`<main>`, `<html lang="en">`, responsive meta tags) and `aria-label`s specifying the entity type (e.g., `folderName directory`) when generating raw navigation trees to ensure keyboard and screen-reader usability. Add `:focus` styles mimicking `:hover` for keyboard users.
+**Action:** Always include base semantic structures (`<main>`, `<html lang="en">`, responsive meta tags) and aria-labels specifying the entity type (e.g., `folderName directory`) when generating raw navigation trees to ensure keyboard and screen-reader usability. Add `:focus` styles mimicking `:hover` for keyboard users.
+
+## 2024-05-18 - Improve Screen Reader Experience for Directory Trees
+**Learning:** Decorative unicode icons (like &#128193; for folders or &#x21B0; for back arrows) in generated HTML directory listings are read aloud by screen readers as confusing literals, degrading the user experience.
+**Action:** Wrap decorative emoji and unicode symbols in `<span aria-hidden="true">` to prevent screen readers from announcing them, and add explicit `aria-label` attributes to ambiguous links (like `..`) to provide context.
 
 ## 2024-06-25 - Directory Listing Navigation Landmark
 **Learning:** Generated directory listings act as navigation regions, and screen readers benefit when the listing is announced separately from the page's main content.
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/html4tree/main.kt b/src/main/kotlin/html4tree/main.kt
index 797d9f1c..30a6ca79 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/html4tree/main.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/html4tree/main.kt
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ fun process_dir(curr_dir: File){
          <h1>${curr_dir.getName().escapeHtml()}</h1>
          <nav aria-label="Directory listing">
          <ul>
-            <li><a style="display:block; width:100%" href="./.." aria-label="상위 디렉토리로 이동">&#x21B0; ..</a></li>
+            <li><a style="display:block; width:100%" href="./.." aria-label="상위 디렉토리로 이동"><span aria-hidden="true">&#x21B0;</span> ..</a></li>
 """ 
 
     val index_middle = fun():String{ 
@@ -180,7 +180,8 @@ fun process_dir(curr_dir: File){
               val fileName = it.getName()
               val encodedHref = if (isLinkedDirectory) { "./${fileName.urlEncodePath()}/" } else { "./${fileName.urlEncodePath()}" }
               val ariaLabel = "${fileName} ${if (isLinkedDirectory) { "디렉토리" } else { "파일" }}".escapeHtml()
-              l.append("""          <li><a style="display:block; width:100%" href="${encodedHref}" aria-label="${ariaLabel}">${if (isLinkedDirectory) { "&#128193;" } else { "&rtrif;" }} ${fileName.escapeHtml()}</a></li>""")
+              val icon = if (isLinkedDirectory) { "&#128193;" } else { "&rtrif;" }
+              l.append("""          <li><a style="display:block; width:100%" href="${encodedHref}" aria-label="${ariaLabel}"><span aria-hidden="true">${icon}</span> ${fileName.escapeHtml()}</a></li>""")
               l.append('\n')
            }
         }
diff --git a/src/test/kotlin/html4tree/MainTest.kt b/src/test/kotlin/html4tree/MainTest.kt
index d617b1b5..5d5611c0 100644
--- a/src/test/kotlin/html4tree/MainTest.kt
+++ b/src/test/kotlin/html4tree/MainTest.kt
@@ -149,6 +149,7 @@ class MainTest {
         assertTrue(htmlContent.contains("<main>"))
         assertTrue(htmlContent.contains("</main>"))
         assertTrue(htmlContent.contains("aria-label=\"상위 디렉토리로 이동\""))
+        assertTrue(htmlContent.contains("aria-hidden=\"true\""))
         assertTrue(htmlContent.contains("aria-label=\"file1.txt 파일\""))
         assertTrue(htmlContent.contains("aria-label=\"subdir 디렉토리\""))
         assertTrue(htmlContent.contains("file1.txt"))
