Siri Voice Changed

[HelveticaNeue]

This morning the intonations that Siri uses have changed. I don't mean because of the new voice that came in iOS 11. I was on the beta's and have become used to that Siri. The new voice in iOS 11 was more cheerful. Today suddenly she sounds cheerless, as if she has stepped back to the intonations prior to iOS 11, but the voice is still the new voice ... just calmer and less cheerful.

The voice also changed on my wife's phone. She also can hear the change, for which she is happy since she didn't like the happiness of the new Siri.

Is anyone else hearing this?

 

[gwhizkids]

This morning the intonations that Siri uses have changed. I don't mean because of the new voice that came in iOS 11. I was on the beta's and have become used to that Siri. The new voice in iOS 11 was more cheerful. Today suddenly she sounds cheerless, as if she has stepped back to the intonations prior to iOS 11, but the voice is still the new voice ... just calmer and less cheerful.

The voice also changed on my wife's phone. She also can hear the change, for which she is happy since she didn't like the happiness of the new Siri.

Is anyone else hearing this?

Did you just install a new beta? This happens occasionally when you do, and you have to download the (bigger) nice new voices again.

 

[HelveticaNeue]

Did you just install a new beta? This happens occasionally when you do, and you have to download the (bigger) nice new voices again.

You could be correct. I thought this might be the case. The only thing that bothers me is my wife’s phone has the same issue and she is not in the beta’s and last updated about 4 days ago.

You are probably correct though. I have never experienced it after an update before or perhaps never noticed it since the difference is more noticeable between the “good” voice on iOS 11 and the more robotic version.

 

[Chazzle]

You could be correct. I thought this might be the case. The only thing that bothers me is my wife’s phone has the same issue and she is not in the beta’s and last updated about 4 days ago.

You are probably correct though. I have never experienced it after an update before or perhaps never noticed it since the difference is more noticeable between the “good” voice on iOS 11 and the more robotic version.

The more I listen to the voice, I would absolutely have to agree with your observation. When the new Siri voice first rolled out, I did find it exceptionally cheery, almost to the point of annoying. I don’t use Siri that much, but I would certainly say it sounds less cheery (at least with the American female voice). Welcome change.

 

[HelveticaNeue]

The more I listen to the voice, I would absolutely have to agree with your observation. When the new Siri voice first rolled out, I did find it exceptionally cheery, almost to the point of annoying. I don’t use Siri that much, but I would certainly say it sounds less cheery (at least with the American female voice). Welcome change.

I don't welcome the change ... I liked cheery Siri

 

[tromboneaholic]

I had my volume down to avoid SIRI’s obnoxious over-the-top new voice at all hours of the day and night. When I ask SIRI to turn off my bedroom lights at night, the last thing I need is her artificial cheeriness. It quickly wears thin. I’m so happy Apple fixed this bug. They need to be more careful in the future when they tweak her emotional response and make sure it fits the context of a situation.

 

[HelveticaNeue]

I had my volume down to avoid SIRI’s obnoxious over-the-top new voice at all hours of the day and night. When I ask SIRI to turn off my bedroom lights at night, the last thing I need is her artificial cheeriness. It quickly wears thin. I’m so happy Apple fixed this bug. They need to be more careful in the future when they tweak her emotional response and make sure it fits the context of a situation.

I don't disagree that in certain situations (or times of day/night) excess cheerful expressivity may be too much for some people. I would understand if they wanted to bring the "artificial cheeriness", as you put it, down a notch. However, I feel like the tweaks they made last week went too far. When I ask my personal assistant to do something, I want her to sound happy to do it rather than depressed. Her "okay" before the "4 minutes and counting" timer response is WAY too glum to hear first thing in the morning when I set my coffee timer. And I already found myself using Siri less last week because I didn't want to hear her artificial sadness when I asked her to add cottage cheese to the grocery list.

Hopefully there is a middle ground they can find we can both enjoy, because obviously they will never grant us a scale to customize how happy/sad we want Siri to sound.

I would be happy if the phone could listen to how quiet or loud the room is before Siri speaks so she could adjust her volume. I never had an issue with her artificial cheeriness when I turned off my homekit lights at night, but she could have been a little quieter.