iOS 17 Lets You Create a Voice That Sounds Like You

[MacRumors]

With the first iOS 17 beta, Apple has introduced a new accessibility feature called Personal Voice. First highlighted earlier this year, Personal Voice is designed to allow you to use artificial intelligence to create a replica of your voice.

The feature is aimed at those who are at risk of losing their ability to speak, with Personal Voice offering these individuals the chance to "create a voice that sounds like them" for communication purposes.

Personal Voice is available in the initial iOS 17 beta, so developers can begin testing it right away. It can be found under Accessibility > Personal Voice. Creating a Personal Voice is process that takes around an hour. Recording requires a quiet place with little to no background noise, with Apple instructing users to speak naturally at a consistent volume while holding the iPhone approximately six inches from the face.

If there is too much background noise in your location, Apple will warn you that you need to find a quieter place to record.

Personal Voice requires you to read a series of sentences aloud, after which your iPhone will generate and store your Personal Voice. The Personal Voice can then be used with the Live Speech feature, which allows users to type-to-speak in FaceTime, the Phone app, and other communication apps.

Personal Voice will be available to the general public when Apple releases the first public beta of iOS 17. Apple has said that iOS 17 will be available to public beta testers next month.

Article Link: iOS 17 Lets You Create a Voice That Sounds Like You

 

[Think|Different]

SO cool and HUGE. Can't wait to do this for my aging parents.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

Not seeing on my XR, so it's probably limited to newer devices. Might want to update the article once supported devices are known.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

What happens if you have a thick accent? It's going to take some time to get used to this.

 

[Chris298]

the new era of phishing and scams to come 😳

 

[Will Co]

Technology isn’t evil. Only the people who use it. And whilst this piece of technology is going to be put to some incredibly good and positive uses, it sure as hell is going to be put to some evil ones, too, sadly.

 

[BrentT]

As someone who is already nearing the end I look forward to this. I wonder if the voice will be exportable?

 

[klasma]

I can assure you that nobody wants a voice that sounds like me.

 

[surfzen21]

the new era of phishing and scams to come 😳

Yep.

Safety words are no longer going to be limited to roll playing and rough sex. Now youre going to need them to prevent scamming.

 

[antiprotest]

the new era of phishing and scams to come 😳

I wonder if I can choose a voice with a text-to-speech software and type out of the sentences to train this. Then I can have that voice to make it say whatever I want right on my phone. 😁

 

[anselpela]

Not on iPad

 

[antiprotest]

I can assure you that nobody wants a voice that sounds like me.

This is how I talk all the time. It takes a lot of effort so if the iPhone can do it to help me keep up appearances that'd be nice.

 

[ShivneelSingh]

Probably one of the best features of iOS17, but they didn’t even announce it.

 

[xxFoxtail]

Not on iPad

I recorded my voice on my iPad Pro M1. Maybe it’s just not available on some iPads?

 

[BenGoren]

the new era of phishing and scams to come 😳

Only if somebody steals and unlocks your phone — and, even then, it’s probably going to be impractical to have a real-time conversation with it.

If you’re a public figure with lots of recordings of your voice “in the wild,” then the horse is already out of the bag.

For individuals … your biggest concern should probably be somebody at a place you frequent (such as work or a bar) bugging you the old-fashioned way (with a hidden microphone) over a non-trivial period of time. I suppose we might see kidnappers pointing a gun to somebody’s head demanding they go through the training process — but, if you’ve already been kidnapped, that’s the least of your worries.

Add all that up … and this is going to be absolutely HUGE for the intended audience. Imagine all those who suffer from ailments akin to what Stephen Hawking suffered from who can now make sure that they’ll sound like themselves as their diseases progress, instead of a generic robot.

b&

 

[entropys]

This feature is quite life changing for people with progressive speech problems. In the same way the iPad was revolutionary for those unable to speak that use tile based speech assistants like Proloquo2go.

 

[anselpela]

I recorded my voice on my iPad Pro M1. Maybe it’s just not available on some iPads?

Not on 2020 iPad Pro.

 

[antiprotest]

I wonder if Apple licensed it, since it sounds like Acapela tech. Even some of the marketing and training info sounds similar.

My-Own-Voice | | Create a digital copy of your voice, to keep this essential part of your identity.

mov.acapela-group.com

 

[klasma]

people with progressive speech problems

Republicans?

(I'll show myself out.)

 

[jz0309]

I see the benefits for the targeted users abut am concerned about potential abuse

 

[red elma]

I wonder if this can be used as a voice option for siri?

 

[nwcs]

It's a great feature for those who are genuinely at risk of losing their ability to speak. Sadly, though, it will probably come with a cost of people also using it in unexpected ways to cause trouble.

 

[antiprotest]

I hope this will become available on the Mac too.

Besides an accessibility feature, this can also help people who are fearful or unskilled at public speaking. It will work seamlessly with online presentations, and even with in-person presentation if coordinated well.

It will be a crutch for sure, but meanwhile the person can still make quality presentations and narrations for slides and videos in their own voice.

 

[phenste]

sorry for anyone willing to goof on this, let me share a story-

my mother suffered from dysphonia for multiple decades. up until I was about 14 or 15, I hadn’t heard what her real voice sounded like, then she got botox injected into her vocal cords (which absolutely terrified me, lmao)—the result was life-changing.

she then passed just before I turned 17.

I would give literally anything for this feature to have existed in her time. my recordings of her voice are scant—those with her true voice, nonexistent. if I could have had a model of her voice created, just to hear her say “I love you” one more time…

no, I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m telling this story to point out how incredible of a feature this is. someone’s voice is something you only remember for so long after they’re gone, unless it’s particularly distinct. had this been around, I could possibly still have an iPhone with her voice model to this day.

my 89yo grandmother is certainly not at risk of losing her voice any time soon, but I will be sitting her down to do this when iOS 17 comes out. this is an incredible step forward, and I continue to laud Apple for their strides in health-related issues.

 

[azentropy]

sorry for anyone willing to goof on this, let me share a story-

my mother suffered from dysphonia for multiple decades. up until I was about 14 or 15, I hadn’t heard what her real voice sounded like, then she got botox injected into her vocal cords (which absolutely terrified me, lmao)—the result was life-changing.

she then passed just before I turned 17.

I would give literally anything for this feature to have existed in her time. my recordings of her voice are scant—those with her true voice, nonexistent. if I could have had a model of her voice created, just to hear her say “I love you” one more time…

no, I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m telling this story to point out how incredible of a feature this is. someone’s voice is something you only remember for so long after they’re gone, unless it’s particularly distinct. had this been around, I could possibly still have an iPhone with her voice model to this day.

my 89yo grandmother is certainly not at risk of losing her voice any time soon, but I will be sitting her down to do this when iOS 17 comes out. this is an incredible step forward, and I continue to laud Apple for their strides in health-related issues.

I know what you mean. Not the intended use but my Dad died recently and it would have been cool to preserve his voice with something like this.