New Podcast Takes You ‘Inside Apple’ to Uncover Behind-the-Scenes Insights on Accessibility and Health

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New Podcast Takes You ‘Inside Apple’ to Uncover Behind-the-Scenes Insights on Accessibility and Health

Apple is known for its culture of secrecy, making any insights into its internal projects and processes a rare delight. A recent episode of the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast dives into the company’s efforts in Accessibility and Health, highlighting AI advancements and research that have influenced the latest features for AirPods Pro, Apple Watch, and more.

Podcast Explores New Apple Interviews on Essential Features

The new episode includes interviews with four Apple employees: Sarah Herrlinger, Ron Huang, Deidre Caldbeck, and Erick Treski, as well as previously recorded clips from CEO Tim Cook and others.

This extensive episode provides a sweeping overview of Apple’s Accessibility history, noting the establishment of its first Accessibility department four decades ago in 1985.

Below are some noteworthy quotes that encapsulate a few of the various topics discussed:

Apple’s Approach to Accessibility

Reddit controversy | Apple accessibility graphic
New Podcast Takes You 'Inside Apple' to Uncover Behind-the-Scenes Insights on Accessibility and Health 6

Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s Senior Director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives, discusses two foundational aspects of Apple’s Accessibility initiatives:

  1. the establishment of the internal Accessibility team
  2. the focus on five key Accessibility pillars

She elaborates:

We believe in building with the community, not just for it. The first step in this process is hiring individuals with relevant lived experiences to enrich our Accessibility features.

We categorize our Accessibility efforts into five primary areas: vision, hearing, physical/motor, cognitive, and speech—developing features tailored to each of these domains.

Apple Watch’s Role in Merging Accessibility and Health

Apple Watch 10 vs 9 health features
New Podcast Takes You 'Inside Apple' to Uncover Behind-the-Scenes Insights on Accessibility and Health 7

A prominent discussion point of the podcast centers around the intersection of Accessibility and Health features.

Host Dallas Taylor points out the early indications of this convergence when the Apple Watch debuted. She cites the Noise app as a prime example, inviting Deidre Caldbeck, Senior Director of Product Marketing for Apple Watch and Health, to elaborate. “Deidre mentions that the effects of these features can be unexpectedly impactful, even for the team.”

Upon launching the Noise app, we received feedback from a father stating that it profoundly transformed his autistic son’s school experience. Before the app, the child was unaware of how loudly he was speaking, which affected his interactions with peers.

Thanks to the Noise app, he gained immediate awareness of his volume, allowing him to modulate his voice accordingly. This wasn’t the original intent of the feature, but stories like these drive home the importance of investing further into hearing and overall health.

Leveraging AI to Enhance Accessibility Initiatives

visionos live captions
New Podcast Takes You 'Inside Apple' to Uncover Behind-the-Scenes Insights on Accessibility and Health 8

Dallas Taylor discusses several capabilities enhanced by AI, including Live Captions for real-time speech captioning and Sound Recognition, both of which are transformative for those with hearing impairments.

Herrlinger highlights the significance of the Sound Recognition feature:

The iPhone and Apple Watch monitor ambient sounds, detecting everything from doorbells, fire alarms, barking dogs, to a crying baby. They then provide a visual alert such as, “There is a sound behind you, possibly your water is running.”

Recent Hearing Health Features in AirPods Pro

AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Test
New Podcast Takes You 'Inside Apple' to Uncover Behind-the-Scenes Insights on Accessibility and Health 9

With the rollout of iOS 18.1 last fall, Apple unveiled three impactful Hearing Health features for AirPods Pro 2.

Caldbeck discusses the inspiration behind the project and its potential ramifications:

Our research showed that around 75% of those diagnosed with hearing loss were not using any form of assistance. “This was clearly an area where we could have significant influence.”

[…]

Millions of individuals purchase AirPods, many of whom may suffer from undiagnosed hearing loss. By taking this hearing test and possibly utilizing their AirPods as hearing aids, they can mitigate some adverse effects of hearing loss, such as social isolation and cognitive decline. Essentially, it can provide life-changing insights for individuals who might never think to consult a healthcare professional.

Conclusion

The podcast wraps up with an inspiring quote from Tim Cook that encapsulates Apple’s aspirations for its Accessibility features.

Cook states: “If we can create a feature that enables someone to express themselves or learn something, or achieve whatever it is that brings them closer to that, I’m fully committed.”

Make sure to listen to the entire episode, available here.

What parts of the podcast resonated with you the most? Did you gain any new insights or reflections? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Art by Michael Zhang

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