Alexa’s lovely, feminine voice has filled the homes of millions over the past few years, but now Amazon has finally released a masculine counterpart to it. Amazon has been late to this – both Apple and Google have been offering different voices, both feminine and masculine, in their virtual assistants for years. But late or not, it’s nice that Amazon is finally offering an option for Alexa.
In addition to the two main Alexa voices, Amazon also has celebrity voices (currently you can choose between Samuel L. Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal and Melissa McCarthy). These are programmed to work with specific phrases and answer specific questions – mostly alarms and timers, jokes or weather reports. They also cost $5 each. Any query made to an Echo device that is not supported by the selected celebrity voice will receive a response from the native Alexa voice.
There are two ways to change Alexa’s voice on your Echo devices: on the device itself or via the Alexa app. Note that changing the sound through the device is less reliable for us – the surest way to do this is with the app.
Changing the voice only applies to the Echo device you’re currently using – if you want to switch to masculine sound across multiple Echo speakers or displays in your home, you’ll have to do it one at a time. It’s also not possible to change the Alexa voice the smartphone app uses; remains the original, feminine sound. Hopefully in the future Amazon adds a way to change it globally for all Echo devices in one account.
Without further ado, here’s how to change Alexa’s voice on an Echo device:
In an Echo or Echo Show:
- Say the command “Change Alexa voice”.
- If you have more than one Echo, Alexa will ask you to specify the device.
- Say the name of the device whose sound you want to change.
- If successful, Alexa will respond with the new voice and confirm how it will look in the future.
- If it doesn’t work, Alexa will say “Sorry, [name of your device] does not support it.”
In the Alexa app for iOS or Android:
- Tap the Devices tab at the bottom.
- Tap the Echo and Alexa button in the top left.
- Tap the device for which you want to change Alexa’s voice.
- Tap the Settings gear button in the top right.
- Scroll down to Voice of Alexa and tap on it.
- Choose Original (female voice) or New (masculine voice).
How to use a vowel sound:
- “Alexa introduce me [name of celebrity]”
- Alexa will switch to your chosen celebrity voice and explain what you can do with it. If you want to purchase the voice, you will be asked to confirm the payment to your Amazon account.
- When enabled, “Hey [celeb name]To wake up the echo device. You can also enable sound on each Echo you want to use. If you use the Alexa wake word, the standard Alexa voice is still available.
