Email article
If you’re an iPhone user, then you must have used its virtual assistant Siri. What do you think about the voice of Siri – is it computer generated or it’s actually a voice of a woman? The voice which has been a guiding angel or a quirky friend to most of the iPhone 4S users is actually of a voice over artist from Georgia.
Atlanta woman Susan Bennett in an interview to CNN claimed that she is the voice behind Siri. Susan Bennett, who is a voice-over artist from year 1970, has accidentally found that her voice is used in Siri.
While being interviewed by CNN, Susan said that one of her friends emailed her first after listening to Siri, asking whether her voice is used in Siri or not. She always has been denying it; even her daughter and husband have pushed her to go out with it to public. She couldn’t sit silent any longer as many claimants from UK & Europe came forward and said to have voiced for Siri.
Susan Bennett didn’t know when she recorded her voice for ScanSoft Inc., over long hours in a recording booth that it will be finally reaching to millions of people around the world as Siri. Siri was launched in October 4, 2011 with the new iPhone 4S and it is still one of the best features introduced by Apple.
Before Siri, Susan had voiced for ATM Machines, Delta airlines and various GPS systems. CNN hired audio-forensic experts have tested Susan’s original voice to Siri’s voice and confirmed that both the voices match 100%.
While neither Apple nor Nuance Communication (which acquired ScanSoft Inc. in 2005) comment on the identity of Siri’s voice, CNN story has almost proved that Susan Bennett is the voice of Siri. Recently The Verge has featured a story named “How Siri found its voice”, which confused many bloggers as Allison Dufty (a writer, producer and voice-over artist) behind the voice of Siri. Alison herself denied this in her website and said the story of The Verge is about how Siri found its voice, not who voiced for Siri.
Anyway, let’s see when Apple accepts it too and whether it will give some credit to the original voice of Siri or not.
