Hi all.
I just did a search online for new voices for VoiceOver on iOS 11, and found that we'll have one, at least, one exciting new voice. The new American English female voice for Siri can be used with VoiceOver, and she sounds better than ever! I think she is the closest thing we have matching Ivona's TTS engine. I personally am really looking forward to this one!
Can't wait for next week, so thought I'd share this with you guys.
Meanwhile, take a look at this article:
https://machinelearning.apple.com/2017/08/06/siri-voices.html#9
By David Lai, 13 September, 2017
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
Still prefer Alex!
While, I think that the new Siri voice is great for being natural and pleasant for a conversational interface. At least, the speech settings I’ve set for Alex and previously Samantha, such as: 85% speech-rate currently. New Siri voice is indeed an speech-voice option in VoiceOver, but is a bit difficult to still be high-quality, natural, and pleasant at 85% speech rate.
However, I said the same thing when Alex was first made available on iPhone 5s, and I stuck with Samantha for a while.
New Siri voice may grow on me.
Using the iOS 11 gm at
Using the iOS 11 gm at present. It is indeed possible to use both the new high quality male and female voices with VoiceOver, however these voices seem to crash significantly more often than do other voices. I've reported the problem in earlier beta cycles, but so far, it has not been fixed.
It is my understanding that you can discuss iOS beta features of note to low vision users here now, but if this is not the case my apologies.
Here's my hope
Well, I speak English as a second language, but that's not the main reason why I can't understand computer voices above a speaking rate of 55%. Maybe it's just that I prefer a sort of a narrator who speaks clearly, like what you hear on the radio. Anyways, I hope that the new Siri voices will not crash, whether at 54% or at 85%. I'm full of expectations next week! And I hope my iPhone SE would be capable enough for all the computing powers...
Ava
I think I'll be hanging onto Ava Enhanced. I really love her! She sounds so much more natural. I used Samantha for about a year because I didn't know until ios. 10 was dropped, that you could change voices! So naturally that spoke to my inner geek, so I stayed up til midnight, downloading all the different voices. After that I said `Goodbye Samantha Enhanced and hello Ava Enhanced! And I have never looked back! I jhink every one's entitled to his/her own opinion, and I also believe that some TTS. voices are better than others at certain things and are not so great at others. If that makes any sense.
I love Ava, too!
I'm also a fan of Ava because she sounds pretty clear, and fits the comprehension of an ESL speaker. But maybe when the new Siri voice arrives in less than a week, I'll think about putting Ava to my rotor language option as a backup plan, or use her for Speak Screen. Makes me excited when listening to the samples!
Is the new siri voice
Is the new siri voice available on Iphone 5s? I have friends who have the beta, one of them has an Iphone 5s, and couldn't find the new voice. I wasn't planning on updating but if i get the new siri voice i might
she sounds human
I think Ava souds more human than some of the other voices I've tried. Others like Tom and Alex sound a bit human, but they have that slight rowbot inflection.
To Paige
Paige, my guess is that some of the voices, including the new voices, may be too processor-intensive for the older phones like the 5S. I am no expert, so don't take this as truth, but this is my guess.
My case with Alex
I used to use an iPhone 4S, and I started with that used phone, and an iOS 9.3 system. However, I couldn't access the Alex voice on iPhone 4s. Then, last summer I got my iPhone SE, and I can see the name Alex on it. So I guess it might be the case? But your post is making me concerned. I hope I can get everything on my iPhone SE. If Apple is forcing me to get a bigger phone, I may have to say no to that all together...
Ava
Ava is great, she sounds really human like. I used her with NVDA and she works well with it.
I'm still going to be on iOS 9, till I get my phone. We've figured it out, and so I'm getting one soon, with a data plan
Probably iPhone 7 Plus.
The iPhone X will have to wait.
If I upgrade
If I really need to upgrade, I'd take the last small / smaller phone that has the 3.5 MM headphone jack. :) So far, the SE is perfect, so no need to upgrade.