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iOS 14.5: How to Change Siri's Voice
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I might be mistaken but I got the impression when you chose another voice the previous download was removed?
If I choose Voice 2 under British, which I’m downloaded before switching back to Voice 1 (on the same device) it downloads it again?
If you go to Settings | Accessibility | Spoken Content | Voices | Your Language | Siri <whew>, it seems iOS will eventually delete the least used voice, but not all of them.
When Apple introduced new Siri voices in iOS 14.5 beta 6 (March 31), I downloaded all 4 US English voices. I am using Voice 2 and the setting page shows Voice 3 as deleted, requiring a download (cloud icon). But voices 1 and 4 remain downloaded.
This is precisely what I was thinking. The Australian is now so subtle as to barely even be noticeable.
American voice 3 (the "new" male I guess?) is way too casual for me.
That's where I'm at also. They sound so realistic it's jarring. Plus I'm used to the current voice.
I have no problem with Apple adding new voices. I really miss the voices having names, now they are just generic voice 1, 2, 3, & 4.
What bugs me, is when you have people who insinuate that a female voice being a default on an assistant is “the patriarchy” forcing women to be subservient.
There is a reason that gps and voice assistants are female voices.
It has to do with people responding to female voices more than male ones; and when a company is trying to get someone’s attention (like when a left turn is coming up), then they will use the voice that achieves that goal.
What bugs me, is when you have people who insinuate that a female voice being a default on an assistant is “the patriarchy” forcing women to be subservient.
There is a reason that gps and voice assistants are female voices.
It has to do with people responding to female voices more than male ones; and when a company is trying to get someone’s attention (like when a left turn is coming up), then they will use the voice that achieves that goal.
If this is sarcasm, I say we’ll done.
I'm a guy and I've never had the Siri voice set as female. Maybe it's because I'm on the spectrum, but female Siri sounds loud and angry to me.
Interesting! I wonder if Apple knew that a male voice would be less harsh for you and others on the spectrum (since they put forth a lot of effort to make Accessible devices).
Yeah, I changed Siri to voice 3, my first time changing away from the default. It's incredible and spooky how natural it sounds, as if they have a guy in a booth somewhere talking to me. Apple even nailed the intonation and stress changes throughout a paragraph.
The only downside is that I'm under the impression the Siri speech is mostly generated off-device on Apple's servers. It would be great if that kind of natural flow were achievable completely on-device.
I tried using Windows 10's Narrator function a few days ago to read a web article to me while I worked on something else (it didn't work, as the reader only functions in the foreground). WOOF, MS really needs to work on those voices. They sound like something Apple had ten or fifteen years ago.
