The results of the listener survey were equivocal. Listener preferences varied widely, with Ryan (our existing voice) and Echo coming out tied and slightly on top, but not with statistical significance. [1]
Given that, we plan to stick with Ryan for now. Two considerations that influence this call, independently of the survey result:
There’s an habituation effect, such that switching costs for existing hardcore listeners are significant.
There’s some evidence that more expressive voices are less comprehensible at high listening speeds. Ryan is less expressive than the other voices we tested.
We’ll survey again—or perhaps just switch based on our judgement—when better models are released.
[1] Above a basic quality threshhold, people’s preferences for human narrators also seem to vary wildly. We’ve found that the same human narrators elicit feedback that can be characterised as “love letters” and “hate mail”—in surprisingly similar proportions.
The results of the listener survey were equivocal. Listener preferences varied widely, with Ryan (our existing voice) and Echo coming out tied and slightly on top, but not with statistical significance. [1]
Given that, we plan to stick with Ryan for now. Two considerations that influence this call, independently of the survey result:
There’s an habituation effect, such that switching costs for existing hardcore listeners are significant.
There’s some evidence that more expressive voices are less comprehensible at high listening speeds. Ryan is less expressive than the other voices we tested.
We’ll survey again—or perhaps just switch based on our judgement—when better models are released.
[1] Above a basic quality threshhold, people’s preferences for human narrators also seem to vary wildly. We’ve found that the same human narrators elicit feedback that can be characterised as “love letters” and “hate mail”—in surprisingly similar proportions.