‘Take Left…’ When the GPS system installed in your car tells the route, a similar sound comes. Alexa or Siri in your phone can also do your work immediately on one of your orders. But have you ever noticed that why only women’s voices are used in most of the virtual assistants (such as Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa etc.)? After all, what is the reason that these voices prepared to help you in the virtual world are only of women. This is not just a coincidence. Rather, there are some scientific, social and psychological reasons behind it.
Why do we like female voices?
Many studies show that humans prefer female voices. Some people even believe that this preference starts from our fetal stage, because female voices in the womb calm and soothe us. Whereas in other research it was found that women pronounce vowels and sounds more clearly. This is why it is easy to understand. Female voices were also used in the cockpits of airplanes during the Second World War, because their voices were louder than male pilots. With this he could be easily identified. However, these claims have been proven wrong in many studies. Not only in the virtual world but also in the normal world, women’s voices have been given importance for years. Until the 1880s, telephone operators were only women.
I like the soft and gentle sound.
Women are often seen in supportive and sympathetic roles in society. This ideology has taken root in the society for a long time and many technological companies have adopted this concept. Research has shown that women generally have a soft and soothing quality in their voices, which the listeners find comfortable. When people interact with an assistant, they want it to be a friendly, helpful, and negativity-free experience.
Marketing Strategy: Companies want their virtual assistants to be used by as many people as possible. Therefore, they preferred the female voice, as it felt more connected to the customers.
Options also available: Some companies now even give users the option to select a voice for virtual assistants, such as a male or female voice. For example, in Google Assistant and Siri you can change the gender of the voice, which shows that companies respect user preferences.
However, questions have always been raised whether this is a sexist method? But even before Virtual Assistant, women have been given preference in every profession like receptionist or interacting with people. Be it western countries or Asian countries, our social structure and structure is such that women are presented in supporting roles. This may be sexist to some extent, as it limits women’s roles and presents them as mere assistants.
Tags: amazing facts, Artificial Intelligence, Google
FIRST PUBLISHED: December 24, 2024, 13:05 IST
