Meet Susan Bennett, The Voice Behind Apple's Siri
October 4, 2013
You might not know Susan Bennett, but we’re pretty sure you know what she sounds like. The Atlanta-based actress provided the original U.S. voice for Siri, Apple’s digital assistant, according to CNN.
Bennett recorded her voice for ScanSoft in 2005, but didn’t know she was Siri until October 2011. That was when the iPhone 4s was unveiled – Apple's first mobile device to include the voice assistant.
As recalled via CNN:
"A colleague e-mailed me [about Siri] and said, 'Hey, we've been playing around with this new Apple phone. Isn't this you?'" Bennett went to her computer, pulled up Apple's site and listened to video clips announcing Siri. The voice was unmistakably hers. "Oh, I knew," she said. "It's obviously me. It's my voice."Bennett says that she recorded the tracks four hours a day over the course of a month. As with many of her voice jobs over the years, she never knew where the recordings would eventually go. In addition to Siri, Bennett's voice can be heard on GPS systems, and airport intercom systems. She also provided the voice behind the first ATM machine. Take a look: Bennett’s reign as Siri has come to an end with iOS 7, which comes with a different female voice. She notes that passing the torch has been bittersweet. Nonetheless, “in her field of work she’s learned to expect evolution – and even revolution.” Apple has never identified the folks behind the many Siri voices. In recent years, however, some have come forward, including those in Australia, and the United Kingdom. We'll let you know when the person behind Siri 2.0 is revealed. See also: Teach Siri How To Pronounce Contact Names Correctly In iOS 7, A Beginner’s Guide To Using Apple’s Siri In iOS 7, and How To Launch App Specific Settings With Siri In iOS 7.
