Apple's innovative accessibility feature can enable iPhone speak in owner's voice

This innovative tech will allow users to record 15-minutes of audio and then, it will be able to synthesise user's voice on iPhone and iPad

Apple to mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day (May 18) announced several value-added accessibility features, which will be rolled out to iPhones and iPads later this year.

Among them, the Personal Voice is touted to groundbreaking technology that will greatly help people who are on the verge of losing their voice due to ailments such as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).

Here's how the 'Personal Voice' feature will work:
As the name suggests Personal Voice will allow users to record their voice and enable iPhone to speak in their own voice through the Live Speech feature.

Users just have to open the Personal Voice feature in accessibility in the settings. Then, it will ask the users to record their voice. Like you would do while setting up Siri, you will be asked to read randomised set of text prompts and this process is a bit long.

It needs to have 15 minutes of audio recording on an iPhone or an iPad. This speech accessibility feature then makes use of Apple's powerful on-device machine learning technology to synthesize words in the owner's voice. And, of course, the 15-minute record is private and secured within the device.

And, when the time comes to use the feature, the user just has to type a phrase on the Live Speech's text box and it will be able to simulate the audio in the owner's voice.

Apple says this new Personal Voice will come later this year, suggesting it come in iOS 17, which is scheduled to be released in late 2023, around September, when new iPhones arrive in stores around the world.

And, it is most probably available to older iPhones too. Apple's previous A-series Bionic chipsets are more powerful or on par with many rival top-end processors we see in the latest premium Android phones. So, we can expect the Personal Voice feature to come to older iPhones.

Also read | Apple previews new value-added accessibility features for iPhones, iPads

Personal Voice and Live Speech features. Credit: Apple

It should be noted Amazon too is working on a similar voice simulator. In the future, this tech would allow users to make Alexa on smart speakers to respond to their loved one's voices.
Last year, Amazon's Rohit Prasad, senior vice president and head scientist of Alexa AI demoed where-in Alexa mimicked the voice of a dead relative to a child.

Though it is kind of scary of listening to a dead relative, it depends on each individual. For some. It would help to cope with the loss of a loved one and offer human-like empathy and keep the warm memories alive.

Already, in select countries, Alexa can respond to celebrity voices such as Samuel J Jackson and Amitabh Bachchan.

However, Amazon has not revealed when this voice feature will be incorporated into Alexa.

Must read | Amazon teaching Alexa to mimic voices of dead people

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