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Since its inception, Amazon Echo has featured a titular, feminine voice that became the identity that we all associate with the voice assistant. After all these years, Amazon is finally letting users try out a new, masculine voice. Plus, you can even try out celebrity voices like Samuel L. Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Melissa McCarthy (but that comes with a $5 fee).
You can change the voice using the Echo device itself, or using the companion Alexa app for iPhone and Android (it’s more reliable to do this using the app).
How to change Alexa’s voice on Echo devices
You can change Alexa’s voice directly from an Amazon Echo or Echo Show device. Just say, “Alexa change your voice.” If you have more than one device, Alexa will ask you to specify a device.
Alexa will then respond with the new voice (there’s only one new voice, so there’s no selection menu). If you want to switch to it permanently, just confirm with your voice.
If your Amazon Echo doesn’t support this feature, Alexa will say something like “Sorry, your device doesn’t support that.” If you have multiple devices, repeat this process to change the voice on all your devices.
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How to change Alexa’s voice using iPhone or Android app
You can also change the voice using the Alexa app for iOS and Android.
Open the Alexa app and go to the “Devices” tab.Select the “Echo & Alexa” button in the top-left corner.Select the device where you want to change the voice. Tap the Settings (gear icon) in the top-right corner. Choose the “Alexa’s Voice” option, and switch to the “New” option to enable the new masculine voice.How to switch to a celebrity voice
You can also try out a celebrity voice on Amazon Echo. These voices won’t answer all your queries, but they are designed to answer select questions like alarms, timers, jokes, and weather reports. Each celebrity voice costs $5, and at the time of writing, you can choose between Samuel L. Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Melissa McCarthy.
Get started by saying something like “Alexa introduce me to [celebrity name].”Alexa will switch over to the celebrity’s voice, and it will guide you through all the things it can do. It will also ask you if you want to purchase the voice. Once you confirm, you’ll have to process the payment using your Amazon account. Now that the celebrity voice is enabled, you can wake Alexa up by saying “Hey [celebrity name]” (like “Hey, Melissa”). Using the “Hey Alexa” phrase will give you the regular voice.
