Why Computer Voices Are Mostly Female 276
PolygamousRanchKid writes with an article exploring the question posed in the headline, which says that "One answer may lie in biology. Scientific studies have shown that people generally find women's voices more pleasing than men's. 'It's much easier to find a female voice that everyone likes than a male voice that everyone likes,' said Stanford University Professor Clifford Nass, author of 'The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships. 'It's a well-established phenomenon that the human brain is developed to like female voices.' One notable exception has been Germany, where BMW was forced to recall a female-voiced navigation system on its 5 Series cars in the late 1990s after being flooded with calls from German men saying they refused to take directions from a woman. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on why the company gave Siri a female voice in the U.S. Nor would she say why Siri speaks like a man in the UK, where iPhone 4S owners have swarmed online forums to request a female voice instead."
Re:Opposite Sex (Score:4, Funny)
Surely most people prefer to listen to the opposite sex, provided they do not suffer from sexual identity disorder or a similar crippling condition ...
I assume then that being British counts as a similar crippling condition?
Re:It's the Majel Barrett effect (Score:3, Funny)
That was a fembot, not a femputer!
Re:Opposite Sex (Score:1, Funny)
Re:NYC Subway (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hmmm, nope. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I always thought the reasons were technical (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hmmm, nope. (Score:3, Funny)
Following directions of the Sith may not be acceptable to those of the religious Jedi order.
Re:Hmmm, nope. (Score:5, Funny)
Meaning that the words were taken from samples so they wouldn't quite match up even if the grammar was correct.
The trick there. Is to hire Shatner for. The voice. acting. ThenNoOneWillKnowTheDifference.
Re:Not a myth (Score:2, Funny)
.... The attitudes at the time were truly backward; there were women pilots who were allowed to deliver aircraft to their bases, but they were not allowed to fly with guns loaded - a quite incomprehensible decision since some of them were shot down by enemy action without a chance of fighting back.
That was planned. The officers (who were male) didn't like the uppity women who were trying to do a man's job. So they found a solution to their problem.
How about this... (Score:5, Funny)
I would pay good money (as opposed to Bitcoins) to listen to James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman have a conversation about types of cheese.
Re:Read better (Score:5, Funny)
For my computer generated voices, I prefer a raspy, sensual voice, with a hint of lasciviousness. Compliant, or even coy at times, yet surprisingly assertive when you least expect it.
Re:NYC Subway (Score:5, Funny)
He was probably the only person they could find who spoke Welsh.
Actually, it's Dylan Thomas. If anyone actually spoke Welsh, they'd realise that he's saying, 'I sing to you now of the pretty milk town down the dingle where a milk maid coos to her swain. By the time we arrive her heart will have lofted like a swan, leaving the lost little lad consumed and forgotten as the lilac by the goat. Mind the gap.'