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Alexa is upgraded with a Newscaster Voice by Amazon LoyicaBlog

Amazon Alexa, which is simply known as Alexa all around the world, is a highly technology-driven virtual assistant developed by Amazon. Alexa is highly efficient in

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Author
Loyica Team
Feb 21 2019
Alexa is upgraded with a Newscaster Voice by Amazon

Amazon Alexa, which is simply known as Alexa all around the world, is a highly technology-driven virtual assistant developed by Amazon. Alexa is highly efficient in carrying out its tasks as it is capable of voice interactions, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, playing audiobooks, controlling smart devices, and so much more.

Numerous devices can be activated when a user prompts a ‘wake word’ like ‘Alexa’, while some devices require the user to push a button to activate Alexa. The communication with Alexa is currently available in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese.

Alexa is becoming widely used in the modern world and there are many devices adopting Amazon Alexa for customers’ ease of use. What’s more, is that Alexa has recently been upgraded with a newscaster's voice by Amazon.

Living in the US

The upgrade in Alexa’s newscaster voice is only limited to the United States until now. Residents in the US could ask Alexa about the latest news in the country and the AI would imitate the voice of a real newcaster.

The realistic approach of Amazon

Amazon opted for a realistic approach towards the delivery of the news through Alexa. To achieve a natural newscaster sound, Amazon turned to NTTS system – Neutral text-to-speech – that allowed Alexa to learn to use a newscaster style from just several hours of training.

Amazon’s alteration with Alexa

Amazon has repeatedly altered Alexa’s voice to suit the situation so it is not the first time that Amazon adjusted Alexa’s voice. Back in October 2018, Alexa developed an ability to whisper which was useful for parents with a sleeping baby.

The NTTS

Using the NTTS technology, Alexa is able to deliver a more natural-sounding voice. This technology uses waveform modeling, where scientists apply deep learning to produce speech signals. This results in Alexa speaking the correct words in a sentence. However, depending on the request of the user, Alexa has the ability to adapt to their speaking style.

Conclusions

Now, whenever US customers would ask Alexa about the latest events in the country, the smart assistant will just switch to the voice of a professional newscaster and report to the customer. Soon, technologies just like Alexa would soon be ubiquitous and available throughout the world if it continues to be widely-accepted.

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