Everyone has heard her voice, whether to ask for directions, find a movie time or just see what random questions she knows the answer to. The Siri personal assistant has been a part of all Apple iOS mobile devices since the iPhone 4S. Since that time she's experienced an upgrade with iOS 7 and found her way into countless commercials. However, the question remains, how did the voice originate?
In an interview with CNN, a woman named Susan Bennett claims to be the voice of Apple's personal assistant.
"It seemed like everyone was clamoring to find out who the real voice behind Siri is, and so I thought, well, you know, what the heck? This is the time," she said.
According to her personal website, Bennett has over 20 years of experience in voice-over work for companies including Home Depot and Cartoon Network.
Bennett began doing voice work on contract for a software company called ScanSoft, later known as Nuance. Bennett was hired to lend her voice to recordings for a larger database. She then entered the recording studio to read phrases and sentences for hours at a time. According to CNN, the recordings were then put through a process called concatenation that builds words, sentences and paragraphs. That is the way voices like hers find their way to being on GBS devices, telephones and, in this case, Siri.
Bennett didn't realize that she was the voice until a friend pointed it out when a friend heard the voice on her iPhone. She went to Apple's website and discovered that it was indeed her voice.
Although she claims she is the voice of Siri, and the video certainly sounds like her, neither Nuance or Apple would comment on the matter. CNN reports that an audio forensics expert it brought in confirms Bennett's claim.