How to change the text-to-speech voice on your Mac computer, or give it a new language

September 24, 2020 By [email protected]_84 Off



It only takes a few clicks to give your Mac a new voice. Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

© Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
It only takes a few clicks to give your Mac a new voice. Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

  • You can change the voice that your Mac uses to read text and notifications by going to the System Preferences menu.
  • There are about a half-dozen voices available on your Mac by default, but you can download more.
  • When you change the text-to-speech voice on a Mac, you can also set how fast it reads or change its language.
  • Visit Business Insider’s Tech Reference library for more stories.

One of your Mac’s various accessibility features is its ability to read out text that’s on the screen. This is great for users who can’t see the screen very well.

But if you use this feature, you might not be satisfied with the default voice, which can sound very robotic.

Luckily, you can change the voice at any time. There are over a hundred different voices available in a variety of languages.

Here’s how to change the speech voice on your Mac.

How to change the speech voice on a Mac

1. Click the Apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen and select “System Preferences.”

2. Click on the “Accessibility” option.



a screen shot of a computer: Open the Accessibility menu. Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

© Ryan Ariano/Business Insider
Open the Accessibility menu. Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

3. In the left sidebar, select “Speech.” This will open the menu where you can change the speech settings.

4. To change the voice, click on the “System Voice” tab to open a dropdown menu. By default, you can choose from two male voices and three female voices.



a screenshot of a cell phone: There are a few preset voice options. Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

© Ryan Ariano/Business Insider
There are a few preset voice options. Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

5. To change the rate at which your Mac speaks, click on the “Speaking Rate” slider and move it left or right to slow it down or speed it up, respectively.

6. To enable your Mac to speak out announcements — it’ll let you know when a program needs your attention, and read alerts — read text that you select, or read text that you hover your mouse over, click the box next to those options.



a screenshot of a video game: There are a variety of options for the voiceover features. Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

© Ryan Ariano/Business Insider
There are a variety of options for the voiceover features. Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

How to add new speech voices on your Mac

1. Open the “Speech” menu again.

2. Click on “System Voice” and scroll down to “Customize.”



a screenshot of a cell phone: "Customize" will be the last option. Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

© Ryan Ariano/Business Insider
“Customize” will be the last option. Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

3. You’ll now be shown a list of all the voices of various languages and dialects that you can download and add to your speech options. You can select most voices and then click “Play” at the bottom to hear what it sounds like. 

4. When you find a voice and language you want, check the box next to it and click “OK” at the bottom of the window. Your Mac will download the voice, and you can then select it.



a screenshot of a video game: You'll need to make sure you have space on your computer for the new voices. Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

© Ryan Ariano/Business Insider
You’ll need to make sure you have space on your computer for the new voices. Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

Gallery: I’ve been using Apple’s new iOS 14 for a few days and while there’s useful updates to Messages, the App Library is disappointing (Business Insider)

I’ve been using Apple’s new iOS 14 for a few days and while there’s useful updates to Messages, the App Library is disappointing

  • Apple held its annual hardware event virtually on September 15 and released iOS 14 the next day.
  • The update had added changes to the home screen, Messages, Siri, and more.
  • Messages updates are already proving useful, but the App Library feels more like a band-aid than anything helpful or new.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Apple just released iOS 14, with some major updates like home screen widgets and Siri, along with dozens of more minor adjustments. The beta version was released back in July, so many have had a few months to get acquainted with the new software. Some updates, like changing the default browser and email app, have been anticipated by iPhone owners for years. 

Every year with the new version of iOS, some of the coolest features debuted at WWDC end up being mostly inconsequential, at least to me, while other minor ones make daily tasks easier. After only a few days, I’m already a fan of changes Messages, while the new App Library didn’t seem like anything special. 


The many small new features in Messages add up to one of the most useful updates in iOS14 for me, because it’s probably the app I use the most throughout the day.


Pinning conversations is a minor change, but it’s also super helpful to easily reach the people and group chats I return to the most.


Pinning a conversation puts it at the top of the Messages app. For me, making the photo larger rather than the text makes it easy to quickly find my important conversations.


Messages got some other common sense updates, like tagging people in a group message, and threading messages.


To start a thread, just hold down on a message and the “reply” option will pop up.


Then you can view just the thread, which can be helpful in a fast moving group chat.


Threading and tagging people seems so obvious, I have to wonder why Apple did not implement them earlier, like many other messaging apps have. Still, I’m glad they’re here, and they make handling the multiple group chats I use to stay in touch with friends and family that much easier.


The ability to search the emoji library is, again, very simple, but it makes life just a little bit easier.


Between emoji search and the QuickPath swipe keyboard introduced in iOS 13, I can finally stop using the custom Google keyboard and stick to the built-in Apple one.


One tiny update I predict will be super useful is a notification about what was pasted into Messages or any other text field. Who among us hasn’t accidentally sent the wrong link?


So far I’m less impressed with the App Library, which automatically organizes apps into categories when you swipe left past all the other screens.


To me, the categorizations don’t make very much sense, and they aren’t nearly as useful as the organizational system I’ve already created for myself where I can access, for example, all my social media or music and audio in one spot.


The “other” categorization also makes me wonder how well these apps are really categorized. Maybe it will prove to be useful later, but for now, the App Library just seems like a way to hide away the disorganized, non-customizable mess of apps.



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