Apple views Music Haptics as core to its missiob of democratizing music and creating accessibility … [+] for all. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)
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Back in September of last year, Apple released a slew of innovative new accessibility features as part of IOS src8. At the time, the ones that garnered the most attention due to their futuristic novelty and fulfillment of unmet needs were those enabling users to control their devices using eye tracking and non-typical speech.
One that flew slightly more under the radar is a feature known as Music Haptics. Music Haptics uses the iPhone’s Taptic Engine to play synchronized taps, textures and refined vibrations to music audio. The feature is nominally designed to assist individuals with various levels of hearing loss to enjoy a more layered and immersive music listening experience. Music Haptics already works across millions of songs in the Apple Music catalog and is being made available as an API for developers to make music more accessible in their apps. It is supported on all devices from iPhone src2 and later, excluding iPhone SE (3rd generation).
Last week, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of accessibility at Apple which itself overlaps with the 40th anniversary of the Brit Awards, Apple hosted a special event at its offices in London to celebrate the company’s ongoing commitment to democratizing music by including audiences that have traditionally been overlooked.
Speaking at the event, Apple’s Head of Global Accessibility Sarah Herrlinger explained how Music Haptics does not just synchronize with the beats themselves but with the company’s deepest held values too:
“For many people when they’re doing accessibility work, it’s really about fundamentals — How do you create something that may assist someone in a community to be able to better use technology? But Music Haptics is really about joy. It’s not something that we had to do. It was something that we wanted to do because we have such a history around music and we wanted to make sure that that was available to everyone,” Herrlinger explained.
Discussing the company’s accessibility ethos more broadly, Herrlinger stated, “We have always believed that we make the best technology by making it for everyone and that commitment to accessibility is something that even predates the Americans with Disabilities Act back in src990. Further adding, “We also work to really focus on building a cohesive ecosystem. We’re the only company out there that fully controls it from hardware, software and operating systems, and by doing so, we can infuse accessibility at a rate that other people may not even dream of.”
During a separate interview, she also explained how the feature was diligently co-designed from start to end alongside the hearing loss community:
“It was a number of years ago that we first had this idea and almost immediately we tried to make sure that individuals who were part of the deaf community were engaged in that conversation. Each project is always a little different and requires its own nurturing but it always starts with how we engage the community and confirm that the idea has merit.” she explains.
Cool vibrations
Apple’s event also included a surprise appearance from former Brit Awards winner and multiplatinum artist KT Tunstall who grew up with a brother with deafness and herself lost the hearing in her left ear in 20src8 following a long struggle with tinnitus.
When asked to provide her feedback on Apple’s Music Haptics, Tunstall said, “What I’ve never experienced, and what I didn’t realize was going to happen was that it’s layered. It’s really hard to describe. I was actually listening through the Apple Music Haptics Playlist. And just going through banger after banger.”
She continued, “What I noticed when I was listening to one of my favorite songs, which is Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, was I could tell that the base quality of the vibration is really singular. It’s like crunchy. It’s a lower frequency, perhaps slower vibration so that you could really tell the difference between the drums and the singing.”
She continued, “When Stevie Nicks starts singing, it’s just like this, smoother, more constant layer so that you know that the vocals are in and it was really crazy, because it’s a very quick assimilation with your brain. It’s done very well in that you get it very quickly and notice how those elements feel different from each other.”
While it’s still relatively early days to evaluate the full extent of adherence and appreciation by the deaf community, a simple glance at a Reddit thread on Music Haptics offers some interesting insights from some unexpected sources:
“I personally find it awesome that it’s there. It might seem gimmicky, but with people who are deaf vibrations are all they have. I love how Apple is trying to find a way to share music with people who are hard of hearing or for people that are completely deaf. It’s also cool for people who aren’t hard of hearing because it just adds more to the listening experience if that is what you want,” wrote one user.
Another pointed out, “I am autistic and ADHD and I enjoy this feature! It allows me to enjoy my favorite music even more with all those knocks and vibrations! so nice and satisfying.”
“I love it so much, it just makes my music something I can feel plus it’s easier to share music with people I love that are hard of hearing! One of my favorite features,” wrote another.
In many ways, this is the essence of universal design. By removing accessibility from a purely disability silo and making it something that everyone can appreciate and enjoy, you add to its visibility, footprint and value proposition which, in the end, always pays back to those who truly need it the most.
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