From the office of This won’t help you work more efficiently, but … comes the newly added ability to change the Google Assistant voice. That’s right, the developers of Google’s incredibly powerful digital assistant have now included the ability to change the voice used with Assistant. Say, for example, you’d rather have a different female voice speak back to you, or you’d rather have a male voice. At the moment there are 8 voices to choose from (with rumor being that eventually Google will add John Legend’s voice into the mix). Each voice is quite different from the next, so if you like change you can always mix it up on a daily basis.

This isn’t exactly new. In October, 2017, Google added a male voice to the mix. Even with the addition, there were only two voices to choose from. That will probably expand even more in the future. Google is employing a new technology, called Wavenet, which makes it easier to simulate an entire vocabulary with significantly less time spent in the recording studio. But how do you change the Google Assistant voice? Let me show you.

Depending upon the version of Assistant included in your Android device, you may not have all of the new voices. You should, however, at least have the choice between female and male voices. Either way, changing the voice is handled with the same steps.

SEE: Deep learning: An insider’s guide (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Changing the voice

In order to change the voice, you must first open up Google Assistant. Once Assistant is open, tap the blue circle in the upper right corner of the Assistant window (Figure A).

Figure A

With the Explore window open, tap the menu button in the upper right corner. From that drop-down, tap Settings. In the Settings window, tap Preferences (they certainly buried this). In the resulting window, tap Assistant voice (Figure B).

Figure B

You should now see the listing of voices (Figure C).

Figure C

Because Google named the voices Voice 1, Voice 2, etc. you’ll have to tap each one to hear how they sound. Once you’ve found a voice that suits you, tap it to save the preference. That’s all you need to do. Now, when you use Google Assistant, you’ll hear the voice you selected in the Preferences window.

A nice change of pace

No. This feature won’t make you more productive or better secure your phone. Changing the Google Assistant voice will make for a nice change of pace. Also, if you exist in a realm where there are Android devices everywhere, it could make for an easy way to differentiate your Assistant from others.