It was back in May that Apple first announced its Music Haptics feature for deaf and hard of hearing users, but I was among a group of disability campaigners which had a closer look during an event in London on Thursday – here’s my honest opinion.
Ironically, I hadn’t heard about Music Haptics before getting the lift up to the event space at Battersea Power Station.
Apple’s director of accessibility, Sarah Herrlinger, explained how it uses the iPhone’s ‘Taptic Engine’ to enhance music with pulses, taps and vibrations. It’s not the first feature to venture into songs and haptics, sure, but it certainly helps to dispel the harmful myth that deaf people can’t experience and enjoy music, above all else.
Over on Apple Music, there’s a playlist of 100 songs which are all compatible with the new-ish feature – from Sabrina Carpenter’s summer hit of 2024, “Espresso”, to Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine”.
During my first encounter, however, I rushed to the first few dance tracks on the playlist I could find, such as “Animals” by Martin Garrix and Swedish House Mafia and John Martin’s classic, “Don’t You Worry Child”.
Feeling the buzz?
Electronic music is my favourite genre, and I knew it would definitely put the haptics feature through its paces with its thumping bass and drum beats and euphoric synth melodies. What I didn’t anticipate was just how underwhelming the vibrations ended up being.
It’s always hard to describe physical sensations, but if you imagine the typical two-beat buzz of your phone when you get a text message, then you aren’t far off in terms of the strongest possible vibration. We were encouraged to experiment with placing the phone on the table and in our palm, but in either instance the physical and visual elements of the buzz aren’t substantial.
And when you consider the drain on the battery all these vibrations cause, this isn’t much of a payoff.
Music as a connection
What’s more, is that amidst a flurry of buzzes and pulsations, the individual has to figure out exactly what each of the vibrations is supposed to represent – helpful if you have some residual hearing to begin that process, but even then, it’s not too far removed from the exhausting process experienced by deaf people of trying to make out your friends’ comments in amongst the background noise in a busy pub.
While writing this, I’m reminded of Vodafone’s sub packs I was fortunate enough to experience at London’s Mighty Hoopla back in 2022, where vibrations were administered through a pack worn on the chest, wrists and ankles. We were able to test them out during “Free Yourself” singer Jessie Ware’s set, and it was clear that pulses in the wrists represented the audience and band clapping together, buzzes in the chest were the vocals, and the vibrations in the floor grounded us in the rhythm of the track.
They were revolutionary, and that’s because it understood that music is a whole body experience, which leads me to argue that haptics technology is better suited to live performances – ideally through the use of full-body equipment, but as a minimum, through the Apple tech described here – than private, one-on-one listening sessions.
Visual representations on the Apple Music app may be what’s needed to get more out of the haptics feature, but with lyrics already taking up the full screen when in use (and most deaf music fans depend on those), that doesn’t seem practical at the moment.
And finally, there’s the fact that against an infinite, ever-expanding catalogue of music, Apple only talks about “millions” of songs being available with its haptics technology. The webpage for Apple Music talks of subscribers being able to “play over 100 million songs, always ad-free”, so exactly what percentage of this is made up of haptic tracks – and indeed, what criteria is used by Apple to determine what songs come with haptics – is unknown.
I’ve asked Apple these questions, and I’m waiting to hear back.
Update – 03/03/25 – 18:50: Following the publication of this article, I understand a vast majority of popular songs on Apple Music will come with the haptics feature, as well as new songs.
