Sounds Good! #17 // Apple, Coro Health, WHO, James Kilner, Tom Middleton
A weekly email on music, health and technology
Hello friends!
Welcome to issue #17 of Sounds Good! - a weekly roundup on the link between music, health and technology:
“AirPods Pro can practically be used as hearing aids”. This article from CNET highlights how major consumer brands could be poised to disrupt the OTC hearing aid market. “Apple doesn't make a big deal of it…because that could lead the FDA to classify the AirPods Pro as a Class II Medical Device, which would subject the product to regulations.”
Digital therapeutics company Coro Health announced a new suite of a products, including Singalong, a karaoke platform designed for care homes. These new services feature alongside their existing MusicFirst service, which provides music to over 5,000 healthcare locations in the US.
Writing for the World Health Organisation, Smriti Kirubanandan from the Healthcare and Lifesciences team at TATA Consultancy Services discusses the differences between music as ‘therapy’ versus ‘medicine’: “Music medicine can be distinguished from music therapy primarily in that those administering “music medicine” have not acquired certification as music therapists. Music medicine is a broader term that encompasses situations where a doctor may utilise music in caring for their patient, even if they are not an accredited music therapist.”
DJ Mag talks to Professor James Kilner of University College London about trials he is running with an NHS practice in the UK where ambient music is being prescribed to groups patients.
Producer Tom Middleton released his new album ‘Spacial Sleep Music’ on World Sleep Day, a spatial audio soundtrack that’s designed to reduce anxiety and help you sleep better. Middleton also teased a future project which combines spacial audio with ‘felt’ sound using a Sensate device.
Until next week!
Rob