Following the various collaborations between Apple and record labels, the Cupertino-based company presented Saylists, a set of production lists available on Apple Music, created in collaboration with Warner Music and intended for help young people with speech impairments.
To create a playlist, algorithms were used to identify songs that repeat sounds difficult to pronounce for people with speech impairments. According to BBC News, 1 in 12 children in the UK suffer from some form of speech impediment.
Some of the therapies used by doctors to help young people with these types of disorders involve repeating sounds such as “ch”, “s” and “z”. The 10 playlists that are part of Saylist, They are composed of 173 songs and among them we find Good As Hell by Lizzo, Right Here, Right Now by Fatboy Slim and Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa.
Saylist’s 10 playlists are classified by the repetition of sounds: “Ch”, “d”, “f”, “g”, “k”, “l”, “r”, “s”, “t” and “z”. Although these playlists only include songs in English, any user who is not subscribed to this service can access them by searching for Saylist and selecting the Playlists option (only in US and UK ).
Speech therapist Anna Biavati-Smith, who collaborated with Warnet Music on this project, says Saylists are a fun new way of speaking that allows children to practice the sounds without feeling rushed or bored.
For its part, CEO of Warner Music, Tony Harlow, states that:
Helping people express themselves is at the heart of what we do, and we hope that by creating such an engaging and accessible therapeutic tool as talklists, we can help anyone with speech problems.