People are more interested in listening rather than reading.
A summary of publishing stats shows that more people prefer to listen to an audiobook than read a book.
According to the report, 30 percent of readers aged between 18 and 29 listened to audiobooks in 2021, while only 12 percent was recorded for book readers aged 65 years old and above.
But this is not to say that people no longer read. It just reflects how far the evolution of text-to-speech has reached and what it can accomplish in the future.
Modern voice generation systems produce output that sound more and more like a real human, thanks to the integration of innovations like artificial intelligence (AI). Because of this, companies in various sectors are already changing how they do things to take full advantage of what this technology can offer.
Here, you’ll learn the four industries that benefit the most from the use of an AI voice generator:
1.Learning and Development
Creating and replicating training content is a tall order, even for professionals in the learning and development (L&D) sector. After all, transforming dry and dull information into something engaging for effective learning entails tremendous work.
The challenge doesn’t even stop there. L&D professionals also need to create a huge amount of engaging content from complex topics, all while ensuring that the tone of voice and language remains aligned with the company’s brand.
It’s a good thing someone invented text-to-speech technology and that it has evolved into neural text-to-speech.
Besides reading what’s written, this innovation also incorporates machine learning to produce realistic voices with natural intonations and emotions. This gives L&D professionals an engaging, cost-efficient, and effortless way of reproducing training content on demand.
2.Customer Service
Ever heard of Siri? What about Alexa?
If you’ve tried asking for directions from these digital assistants, you’ll realize how they sound outdated compared to the new and improved automated customer service systems some companies used today.
In fact, digital voice solution firms have changed how AI-driven voice bots perform through augmented voice intelligence platforms. With these adjustments, voice generators can already have natural-sounding conversations using systems that understand advanced spoken language and respond to certain speech behaviors naturally and fluently.
This type of system can also hyper-personalize interactions to provide quick and reliable customer solutions. Moreover, some platforms also have multilingual capabilities that eliminate misunderstandings or prevent ineffective communication caused by language barriers.
That sounds good and all, but what do the customers have to say?
Anecdotal evidence shows that it’s very difficult to tell which voice is synthetic and which one is natural. Of course, it still depends on the type of AI-assisted voice-generating system used.
A good and reliable AI-driven digital voice system benefits customer experience by:
- Lessening long holds common in customer service setup with live agents,
- Preventing friction between call center agents and customers, and
- Reducing unhelpful conversations with the CS representatives.
3.Branding
Aside from training employees, companies can also use AI-powered text-to-speech systems to improve their branding.
Many customers complain about companies being too cold and impersonal when dealing with others. This feedback can significantly affect not just sales but also brand perception.
When customers feel like they’re being held at arm’s length, they tend to feel undervalued, which can affect patronage.
To prevent this, companies may invest in human resources to handle all customer concerns. But that can cost a lot of money. This is where AI voices come to the rescue.
Besides customer service, AI-generated voices can also be used in ad campaign video voice-overs or podcasts.
AI speech synthesis can help brands get closer to their target audience by offering personalization, natural voice quality, and consistency. And since there’s no need to hire expensive talent or skilled professionals, companies can establish lasting relationships with their loyal customers without consuming too much time, effort, and money.
4.Game Development
Some companies in the game development industry also tapped into AI voice in recent projects. One of them is Leviathan Games.
Known for developing games based on famous franchises like The Lord of the Rings and Spider-Man, the company has implemented AI voice in some of the games it is currently developing.
According to Leviathan owner Wyeth Ridgway, this innovation is gradually becoming a trend in game design. He even compared it to the evolution of 3D animation in the past decade, citing how companies like Pixar were able to create their own software to facilitate modeling and animation.
When you think about it, voice generators have indeed undergone something similar.
In the past, text-to-speech systems only used pre-recorded sound files, weaving sentences from bits and pieces of previously existing phrases. Hundreds of hours have been spent on sound clip recording and manual sound labeling to make this happen.
Unfortunately, the result didn’t even sound close to human.
Now, voice generators have become more intelligent. Thanks to the integration of AI, synthetic voices already have natural-sounding voices with realistic inflections and pitches to showcase emotions. They even learned specific accents and dialects.
Join the New Era
Voice generation has come a long way since the first time Stephen Hawking used text-to-speech technology. Offering voices that sound more human, this technology is set to change many more industries in the future, like the ones listed here. Don’t miss out on the advantages of AI-generated voice and join this new era today.
