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Georgia Woman Revealed as Voice of Siri on iphone
The voice of Apple's voice assistant Siri has been revealed as Georgia-based voice-over actress Susan Bennett.
Bennett made the revelation to CNN, eight years after lending her voice to a 2005 project for ScanSoft, which eventually acquired Nuance, the company that powers Siri. As a result, Bennett did not know she would one day be the voice behind a pop culture icon. When Siri was released on the iPhone 4S in 2011, it was friends who recognized her voice and filled her in.
Nuance and Apple declined to comment on Bennett's revelation to CNN, but the cable channel hired an audio forensics expert to compare her voice to the voice answering queries on iPads and iPhones around the globe. "They are identical - a 100 percent match," the expert told CNN.
Bennett kept quiet about the fact that she was Siri until a September feature from The Verge led some to believe that voiceover actress Allison Dufty was Siri, something Dufty denied.
Amidst the confusion, Bennett decided to reveal that she was actually the voice of Siri. She'd spoken with CNN's Jessica Ravitz a few months ago for a separate story on the voices that power announcements at airports, at which time Ravitz had quite by accident asked if Bennett was the voice of Siri. Bennett was coy at the time, but recently came back to Ravitz to reveal her secret.
With iOS 7, users now have the option to select a male version of Siri, so Bennett's voice might not be as omnipresent as it once was. Her voice does not power Siri around the globe; in Nov. 2011, the voice of Siri in the U.K. was revealed, while the Australian Siri stepped forward earlier this year.
Bennett made the revelation to CNN, eight years after lending her voice to a 2005 project for ScanSoft, which eventually acquired Nuance, the company that powers Siri. As a result, Bennett did not know she would one day be the voice behind a pop culture icon. When Siri was released on the iPhone 4S in 2011, it was friends who recognized her voice and filled her in.
Nuance and Apple declined to comment on Bennett's revelation to CNN, but the cable channel hired an audio forensics expert to compare her voice to the voice answering queries on iPads and iPhones around the globe. "They are identical - a 100 percent match," the expert told CNN.
Bennett kept quiet about the fact that she was Siri until a September feature from The Verge led some to believe that voiceover actress Allison Dufty was Siri, something Dufty denied.
Amidst the confusion, Bennett decided to reveal that she was actually the voice of Siri. She'd spoken with CNN's Jessica Ravitz a few months ago for a separate story on the voices that power announcements at airports, at which time Ravitz had quite by accident asked if Bennett was the voice of Siri. Bennett was coy at the time, but recently came back to Ravitz to reveal her secret.
With iOS 7, users now have the option to select a male version of Siri, so Bennett's voice might not be as omnipresent as it once was. Her voice does not power Siri around the globe; in Nov. 2011, the voice of Siri in the U.K. was revealed, while the Australian Siri stepped forward earlier this year.
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