May 15 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, and Apple always uses the occasion to highlight some of the new accessibility features coming to iPhones and Macs. This year, Apple’s got another announcement to share: three new Sound Therapy playlists on Apple Music available now.
The South Therapy experience consists of three playlists—Focus, Relax, and Sleep—that play music from UMG artists including Imagine Dragons, Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves, and others. The songs are special versions, often extended, instrumental, or rearranged to be more soothing. Those songs are then blended seamlessly with specific sound waves that are said to help you get into a particular mental state.
Gamma waves and white noise are supposed to help with focus, theta waves are to help you relax, and delta waves and pink noise are said to help you sleep.
Apple has partnered with Universal Music Group and its music therapy science project, the Sollos initiative, on the feature. Apple’s press release says the feature is “Backed by scientific research and powered by UMG’s proprietary audio technologies,” but the science here is not by any means conclusive. Apple uses words like “could” and “might” in its press release whenever making a claim of effect, and includes a footnote that the feature is designed to “support a person’s overall wellbeing” rather than treat any specific medical condition.
Similar claims have been made about similar therapies, such as “binaural beats,” for years, but research into the effects is often criticized for its lack of rigor or for making grandiose claims not supported by the evidence. Critics often point out that such therapies, when properly studied, show results no better than a placebo, or no better than using any other regular sounds to block out bothersome background noise.
Still, there’s no harm in it, and it’s a new feature included with your existing Apple Music subscription. Regardless of whether there are special sound waves helping you achieve the focus or sleep you desire, you can give the playlists a listen the next time you can’t focus, relax, or sleep, and see if they work for you.