How to change Alexa’s voice

How to change Alexa voice
Want to change Alexa’s voice? While the soft tones of Amazon’s popular smart assistant have won over many, there are plenty of good reasons for wanting it to sound a little different.
Maybe you’d rather hear a different language, or accent – or maybe you’re a bit tired of tech companies using female voices for their subservient AI products.
Alexa isn’t the most flexible in this area, but there are a few things you can do to amend the way Alexa’s voice is deployed in your home – say, on the Amazon Echo smart speaker, or whatever newfangled shower head you have installed in your bathroom – or on your smartphone. 
Here’s how to set Alexa’s language, access the special Samuel L. Jackson voice, or starting thinking about competing voice assistants like Google Assistant or Siri.

How to set Alexa’s language and accent

Here’s the most important setting for Alexa’s voice: the language it speaks in.
Most Echo devices will use Alexa in English, though Amazon is expanding the assistant’s repertoire to include a host of other languages. By heading to your Alexa app and into Settings > Device Settings, and selecting an Echo device, you’ll find a Language option (underneath General).
This feature is only available on first-party Amazon devices like the Echo, Echo Dot, or Echo Plus – so third-party Alexa-powered smart speakers like the Pure DiscovR are stuck in their default language.
If you’re speaking to Alexa in English, it can also be set to US English, UK English, Canadian English, Australian / New Zealand English, and Indian English.
How to change Alexa voice

Brief Mode and Whisper Mode

There are, thankfully, a few other edits you can make to Alexa’s voice beyond the language.
In the Alexa smartphone app, you can head to Settings > Voice Responses and toggle either the Brief Mode or Whisper Mode.
Brief Mode provides shorter responses from Alexa – if you’re not the chatty type – and will replace simple affirmative answers with a brief beep instead.
Whisper Mode provides answers in a quiet, hushed tone. Perfect for ambient settings or when you don’t want to wake the kids.
How to change Alexa voice

How to change Alexa's voice speed

Just want Alexa to speak a little slower – or not take as long answering your queries? Say “Alexa, speak faster / slower” and your wish shall be granted.

How to set Alexa’s voice as Samuel L. Jackson

You may have built up some excitement over the option to set Alexa’s voice as Samuel L. Jackson, from such cult films as Pulp Fiction and Snakes on a Plane.
However, Jackson can’t be used for everything. It works by asking Alexa to ask Samuel L. Jackson a question, and then hearing his response. It’s an official feature that Jackson lent his voice for, and costs $0.99. Just ask Alexa to “introduce me to Samuel L. Jackson”, and away you go.
It’s currently only available in the US, though we expect Amazon to expand its Celebrity Voice program into other countries in the future.
alexa voices
Amazon’s product page states that, “Although he can do a lot, Sam won’t be able to help with Shopping, lists, reminders or Skills”, but you should get some entertainment value out of hearing Jackson’s voice in other contexts – and you can even choose whether to allow explicit language or not.

?Is that it

Sadly, yes. Alexa offers very little customization. It may be the most popular voice assistant, but that doesn’t mean the competition doesn’t have some advantages.
Google Assistant, for one, allows you to switch the gender of its voice – though labelled as ‘orange’ and ‘red’ rather than ‘man’ and ‘woman’.
How to change Alexa voice
Siri, too, has plenty of accent options for its voice, meaning you can pick an American, Australian, British, Indian, Irish, or South African accent when using the assistant in English. You can pick between two genders too.
Google Assistant is available in all Android OS devices (any smartphone not made by Apple, really) as well as Google Home smart speakers and select smart TVs. Siri comes built-in with Apple iPhones, AirPods, Macbooks, and the like – though is considerably less advanced than the other two assistants.
Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant is generally seen as the runt of the litter, but it does have various speaking styles to choose from too.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Linktree’s free workaround lets you add multiple links to your Instagram bio

Image
Instagram only gives you one opportunity to link to outside resources inside its photo sharing platform. This might not be a problem for a majority of the users, but for those wanting a little more customization and even more options, it leaves much to be desired. Enter  Linktree , a free tool for Instagram designed to improve traffic to your outside link, be it a blog, portfolio, or store. How it works is fairly straightforward. After connecting Linktree to your Instagram profile, you’ll receive a single link to place in your Instagram bio. Once that link in place, you can customize what it’s linked to within your browser, be it a single website, or a collection of sites you’re looking to direct followers to Say you’re a photographer who’s using Instagram as a marketing tool for your wedding photography. Using Linktree, you can direct Instagram followers to your blog, your portfolio site, and even your other social media accounts. Until now, you would’ve been stuck choosing b
Read more

EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT THE PIXEL 4, THE MOST-LEAKED PHONE EVER

Image
Google’s  Pixel 3 might have been the  most-leaked phone in history . Long before its unveiling, we knew practically everything about it from unboxing videos, photo comparisons, even a full review of the device. Surely, for the Pixel 4, Google would clamp down on leaks to leave some surprises for its debut on  October 15th , right? Let’s just say, if that was the plan, it didn’t exactly work out. We’ve now seen the Pixel 4 XL from every angle and in three different colors. At least seven different sources have touched this phone, many of them confirming the same specs. We not only know which cameras it’ll have, but also what they may be capable of, including air gestures (go figure). That doesn’t even count information Google has already shared  on purpose. So if you want to know almost everything about the Pixel 4 nearly a month before it’s announced, buckle up. We’ve sifted through all of the rumors and information we can find to compile everything we know — and everything we
Read more

Our favorite iOS apps for the iPhone and iPad in 2018

Image
As 2018 comes to a close, it’s time to look at some our favorite apps of the year. While not all of these are brand new, many of them popped up onto our radar for the first time in 2018, and are definitely worth the attention. Others are some of our favorites that are still best-in-class despite having been around for some time now. We aim to do things differently at TNW, and as such you’re not going to find the recommendations you’re probably used to seeing: Gmail, Skype, Dropbox, and the like. Instead, we want to focus on the best-of-the-best that you may not have heard of, and others that are just special enough to warrant a mention. As always, we’d encourage you to share some of your favorites in the comments below, or on Facebook. Enlight Pixaloop (Free Pixaloop  is one of my favorite apps on the market. Unlike typical image editors that allow you to remove red eye or apply a filter, Pixaloop allows you to create stunning photo animations with a few clicks on your
Read more