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Meet Susan Bennett: The mystery woman behind Siri

Meet Susan Bennett; The mystery woman behind Siri

Apple users all know about Siri: the Apple’s very own voice-activated personal assistant. On this website, we have already told you a lot about Siri. Every ifs’ ‘and buts’, pros and cons and all the other things associated to it. From organizing your meetings, updating your schedule, speed dialing, searching directions for you etc, Siri has it all covered.

The iOS users have been utilizing Siri since its introduction back in 2011. The iOS 5 in the iPhone 4S was the first device to enjoy this privilege. A year later, iPads were also introduced with this function. Since then, Siri has been the soul of all Apple devices.

Siri has both male and female iterations. The female or the American version is the most popular and well-known. Initially, it was the first voice that was ever introduced to an Apple device. Let’s take a complete look at the erudite behind Siri’s voice.

Who Actually Is Siri?

For those who don’t know Susan Bennett is the real genius behind Siri’s voice. She is the most famous American version of Siri. Susan is a voice-over artist and has done recordings for various big names. Susan, aged 65, feels proud to be the first artist ever to have her voice recorded for a device in a robotic manner.

A little about Susan’s personal life:

Susan graduated from Brown University in 1971, where she studied classics. Susan wanted to be a teacher or a musical artist. She acted in Sock and Buskin theatrical productions and was also the member of a jazz band. Susan was also a lead singer with the “Chattertocks”, a cappella group.

Susan is married to Curt Bennett, who was the famous sportsman and played for National Hockey League as well as for the United States national ice hockey team in the 1970s. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia and has a son.

Susan’s Life as a Voice-Over Artist:

As we mentioned above, Susan wanted to be a teacher but the fate has everything else in store for her. She started her career by becoming a voice of First National Bank of Atlanta’s “Tillie the All-Time Teller” for the very first time. Then started the Susan’s life as voice of fame.

Till date, she has recorded voice for e-learning software and GPS navigation software, telephone systems, messages for public address system in all Delta Air Lines terminals globally. She has also been the voice behind the famous commercials including McDonald’s, Ford, Fisher-Price, Coca-Cola, The Home Depot, Macy’s, Goodyear, VISA, Hot Pockets, Cartoon Network and Club Med.

How Susan Became The Voice Of Siri?

Susan’s remarkable career as the voice of fame began in 2005. A famous software company, ScanSoft, was searching for a voice-over artist and reached to GM Voices for this purpose. Bennett was chosen as soon as the selectors heard her voice. Susan Bennett signed a contract for recordings of the database to construct speech in June, 2005.

Susan kept recording for about four hours per day. The recording took over a month. As per Susan’s statement she had to read nonsensical and gibberish lines and sentences for hours and hours. The morsels were then symphonized through a process called Concatenation. Concatenation is the process through which sentences, paragraphs and words are built. This is the process through which voices are perfectly incorporated into GPS, telephone and in the popular cases, Siri systems.

How Does Susan Came to know that she is Siri?

Susan never knew the name or the classifications of the company she was recording for. She was being paid per hour and all that she knew was that her voice would be used in some sort of company phone systems.

Susan initially came to know that she is Siri, when on the launch of iPhone 4S, October 2011, a fellow called her and told her. She immediately went to the site and heard her voice. Susan was flattered and happy to hear her voice on big platform.

Has Apple contacted ever with Siri?

It is unmistakably a common knowledge that the big companies hire voice-over artists or any artist on very small pay. But, the issue on Siri’s front is entirely different. Susan was hired by ScanSoft where she recorded for Siri data. But, she was never told where her voice would be used. Even after, Apple launched Siri, no credits were given to the original voices.

This is all you must be keen to know about Siri. The voice behind Siri is a simple woman, striving to find a peaceful career with her voice. However, it is disappointing to know that big names like Apple are earning millions of money with this technology, while the original artist behind it never gets recognition.

Apple has still not confirmed that Susan Bennett is the original Siri. But, as per the audio-forensics experts hired by CNN, the voice has been 100% confirmed to be of the graceful lady.

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