Samuel Axon
Siri already has four English-accented American voices, but Apple will add fifth place in iOS 15.4. The new voice aims to offer gender-neutral preference for the first time Noted By Axios.
The audio in the current beta settings panel is called “Voice 5”, however by developer Steve Moser Noticed on Twitter This sound is called the “queen” under the hood. Apple has confirmed to Axios that the audio is based on recordings from someone in the LGBTQ + community. Moser also tweeted an example of how the new sound is:
For the most part, the female voice has been the default voice since Siri became a standard feature on the iPhone in 2011. That changed when Apple changed iPhone settings last year, forcing the user to choose male or female voice when the iPhone starts up, with no default options selected.
Apple has sent the following report to Axios regarding the new audio included in the iOS 15.4 beta:
We are pleased to introduce the new Siri voice for English speakers, giving users additional options for choosing the voice that speaks to them. Millions of people around the world rely on Siri every day to do things, so we try to make the experience as personal as possible.
Apple last year added the third and fourth American English voices in Syria – female and male voices representing African-American speech.
In addition to these five American English voices, Apple offers Siri voices in many languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Bokml Norwegian, Portuguese, and Russian. Spanish, Swedish, Thai and Turkish. These languages have many regional variations or dialects, such as Chilean, Mexican, Spanish and American Spanish.
Other changes to the upcoming iOS 15.4 include the ability to use Face ID while wearing a mask, 5G dual SIM support, the ability to set up a custom music streaming service and more.
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