Apple’s new short film ‘The Lost Voice’ highlights accessibility features

Apple on Thursday released a short film highlighting the company’s efforts to make its products more accessible, ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3. The tech giant showcased features like Personal Voice, which is available on Apple devices.

Personal Voice, recently released as part of the iOS 17 rollout, uses AI to create a replica of your voice and stores it on the phone. It essentially generates a synthesized voice that sounds like the user and can be used to connect with others via iPhone speakers, FaceTime, as well as third-party applications.

Users can create a Personal Voice by reading a set of text prompts aloud for about 15 minutes of audio on the iPhone or iPad. This feature is integrated with Live Speech, and users can then type what they want to say and have their Personal Voice read it to whom they want to connect and communicate.

Personal Voice aimed at users who have conditions that can affect their speaking ability over time.

Apple’s new short film, “The Lost Voice,” tells the story of a young girl and her pink, floppy-eared furry friend as they search for his missing voice. The film then reveals a personal moment between a father and his daughter.

Dr. Tristram Ingham, who plays the role of the father, is a physician, associate professor of epidemiology, and a disability advocate from Wellington, New Zealand. Ingham has facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), which causes progressive muscle degeneration starting in the face, shoulders, and arms and can ultimately lead to an inability to speak.

Shot in New Zealand, the film is directed by Oscar-winning director Taika Waititi, best known for movies such as Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Love and Thunder, and What We Do In The Shadows. “The Lost Voice” is narrated entirely with Personal Voice, generated on iPhone.