A couple of years ago, specifically on October 4, 2011, just on the eve of the death of Steve Jobs, Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), presented what at that time was the latest model of the company's smartphone, the iPhone 4S and, next to him, his characteristic star: Crab, a virtual voice assistant that from that moment accompanies users but behind which hides a real person of flesh and blood.
Susan Bennett, is the name of the person behind the voice of Crab in United States. Apparently the television network CNN has managed to find this mysterious voice that claims to be the hidden voice behind the answers that Siri offers to Americans. Susan bennet lives in Atlanta and although he refuses to reveal his age, he has been working giving his voice to inanimate (and animate) objects since 1970. CNN points out that his voice has sounded in commercials and in other technological systems, for example, it says the addresses in a GPS and has also guided passengers at some airports.
With the arrival of iOS7 the voice of Susan Bennett is no longer the only one that sounds in the iPhones and iPads of millions of Americans because with the new mobile operating system of the company of the bitten apple new voices have been introduced to this virtual personal assistant.
It has been as a result of an article in The Verge in which it was implied that it was another girl who contributed her voice to Crab, the reason why Bennett has now decided to leave anonymity, two years later.
In the video posted by CNN and that you can see in full here, the "actress" begins by saying: Hi, I'm Susan Bennet. Maybe you know me already. I am the voice actress who voices Siri »
Bennet goes on to state for CNN that «I really had to weigh the importance to me. I wasn't sure I wanted notoriety, and I wasn't sure where I was legally either. And so that's why I've been so conservative all this time».
«Then this video came out on The Verge. It seemed like everyone was crying out to know who the real voice behind Siri was, and so I thought, well, what the heck? This is the moment», Said the actress.
«The first time I heard Siri's voice was when my friends sent me an email saying, "Isn't this you?" Since I didn't have that new iPhone I went to an Apple store and listened to it. It was wow», The protagonist continues to narrate to CNN.
The story starts back in 2005 when a software company called Scansoft (later renamed Nuance Communication, which is known to be the company in charge of supplying the technology of Crab a Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),) was looking for a voice for a new project. It was like this Susan Bennett he spent around four hours a day in July recording nonsensical phrases and perfecting his vocalization:There are some people who read for hours and hours and it is not a problem. It bores me a bit and that's why I took breaks. That may be one of the reasons Siri sounds a bit annoying sometimes.».
S. Bennett he never knew what his voice would be used for until, as noted above, he acquired the iPhone 4S and she was able to "assist herself."
Despite his confession, neither Nuance nor Apple confirm or deny the 'coming out' of the human voice of Crab however, GB Voice states that after analyzing and comparing both voices, they are 100% identical.
And in Spain, what is the voice of Siri?
