Meet Susan Bennett, the original voiceover artist for Siri

[RaduTyrsina]

Apple’s popular voice assistant Siri is now more than two years old, being introduced with the iPhone 4S launch back in October 2011. During a recent interview with CNN, Susan Bennett, a veteran voice actor from the suburbs of Atlanta, has confirmed that she is the voice behind the famous Siri. So, if you believed until now it was just a robot’s voice, you now have to chance to see and hear the voice of the human behind Siri.

However, it’s curious to know that tight-lipped Apple officials didn’t confirm nor deny this information, but an audio forensics expert said he is 100% sure Susan Bennett is indeed the original voiceover artist for Siri.

According to Bennett, she has worked on the vocals for Siri back in 2005, during the entire month of July, working four hours per day at the GM Vocals for ScanSoft studio. Back then she didn’t know her voice was going to be used for Siri, as it was an “undisclosed projectâ€. So, only six years later Apple made use of her voice talent. She told CNN:

“A colleague emailed me (about Siri) and said, ‘Hey, we’ve been playing around with this new Apple phone. Isn’t this you?’. It’s obviously me. It’s my voice. “

She also said that he was used to keeping her anonymity while previously doing voiceovers for GPS devices and terminals announcing Delta Airlines flights:

“I really had to weigh the importance of it for me. I wasn’t sure that I wanted that notoriety, and I also wasn’t sure where I stood legally. And so, consequently, I was very conservative about it for a long time.â€

What do you think about her voice? Do you think she did a great job or perhaps Apple should try with a new voice?

Source: CNN

 

[s2mikey]

It would have been better keeping it a mystery as to who she was. This kind of ruins it, IMO. I don't have or use Siri though so I guess I don't care.