Alexa has always had a feminine-sounding voice. But, recently, Amazon has begun rolling out a masculine-sounding voice in the US and the UK.
At the same time, Amazon has introduced a new wake word - Ziggy - to trigger Alexa. You can hear your preferred voice option whenever you use Ziggy or any of Alexa’s wake words - because Amazon isn’t associating Ziggy with the new masculine-sounding voice or Alexa with the original feminine-sounding voice.
What does the masculine voice sound like?
you may hear an example of the British version of the masculine-sounding voice in the video above.
How to get the masculine voice
There are two ways you can change Alexa’s voice.
1. Just ask Alexa
You can now switch between two voice options - original (feminine-sounding) and new (masculine-sounding) - by simply asking Alexa to “Change your voice". This method appears to be device-specific, which means you’ll have to set the voice on each of the Alexa devices in your home.
2. Change your Alexa app settings
If you want to use the new masculine-sounding voice across all your Alexa devices, dive into Settings in the Amazon Alexa app and change it that way.
How to change your wake word to Ziggy
There are two ways you can change the wake word for your Alexa devices, including Echo devices.
Simply ask Alexa to “Change your wake word" and then go with Ziggy. Again, you’ll have to do this on each of the Alexa devices in your home.
Another way you can change the wake word is to dive into Settings in the Amazon Alexa app. Just follow these steps:
Note:The Ziggy wake word joins existing Alexa, Computer, Echo, and Amazon wake words that have already been available to use with Alexa for years.
Amazon Echo Dot (2020)
Where are the new voices and names available?
Alexa’s masculine-sounding voice option and Ziggy wake word first launched in the US in July 2021. They began rolling out in the UK in November 2021.
