Siri Gets a Gender-Neutral Voice (and Here’s What It Sounds Like)
One prefers a female Siri voice, the other opts for the male variant. Another prefers to listen to a gender neutral sound. And it will soon be available with the latest iOS 15.4 update.
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Siri will soon also be gender neutral
In an interim update for the iPhone – iOS 15.4 – Apple introduces a new voice. It doesn’t sound specifically male or female, but gender neutral. The tech giant confirms that the voice was recorded by ‘a member of the LGBTQ community’.
iOS 15.4 is expected to be installed in mid-March, but the voice can already be heard in test versions. Are you curious about the sound of a gender neutral Siri? Then listen to the video below:
Only American Siri is non-binary
The gender neutral Siri can only be heard in iOS 15.4 if you set Siri to US English. This is how you do it:
- Open the Settings app and go to ‘Siri & Search’;
- Choose ‘Language’ and select ‘English (United States)’;
- Go back to Siri & Search and tap Siri Voice;
- Select ‘Vote 5’ at the bottom.
Criticism
Traditionally, voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant have female-sounding voices. Several industry experts were critical of this, as it would reinforce gender stereotypes. Namely, it would imply that women are the ones who need to be there for you at all times of the day. In addition, the voice assistants would sound too submissive.
Apple was relatively early to introduce a male Siri voice: it was already there in 2014. However, the female voice remained the standard for a long time. Only if you changed the option, you were listening to a male Siri. This has changed since iOS 14.5: when configuring your iPhone you will immediately be asked whether you prefer a male or female Siri.
With the gender-neutral voice, Apple is taking the next step towards a more diverse, inclusive society. It is not yet known when the Dutch Siri will receive the non-binary voice.
