Alexa has always had a feminine-sounding voice. But Amazon finally began rolling out a masculine-sounding voice last week – when it introduced a Shaq celebrity voice option. Amazon has also added a new wake word – Ziggy – to trigger Alexa. It isn’t specifically associating Ziggy with the masculine-sounding voice or Alexa with the feminine-sounding voice, however. You can use either voice option with any of Alexa’s wake words.
How to get Alexa’s masculine voice
There are two ways you can change Alexa’s voice.
1. Just ask Alexa
You can now switch between two Alexa voice options – original (feminine-sounding) and new (masculine-sounding) – by simply asking Alexa to “Change your voice”. This method appears to be device-specific, which means you’ll have to set Alexa’s voice to the new voice on each of the Alexa devices in your home.
2. Change your Alexa app settings
If you want to use Alexa’s new (masculine-sounding) voice across all your Alexa devices, dive into Settings in the Amazon Alexa app and change it that way.
- Open the latest version of the Alexa mobile app.
- Go to Devices.
- Select All Devices and then select the device you want.
- Select Settings, and under General, select Alexa’s Voice.
- Select the voice you want from the list.
- Original is the feminine-sounding, classic voice.
- New is the masculine-sounding voice that just released.
How to change your wake word to Ziggy
There are two ways you can change the wake word for your Alexa devices, including Echo devices.
1. Just ask Alexa
Simply ask Alexa to “Change your wake word” and then go with Ziggy. Again, you’ll have to do this on each of the Alexa devices in your home.
2. Change your Alexa app settings
Another way you can change the wake word is to dive into Settings in the Amazon Alexa app. Just follow these steps:
- Open the latest version of the Alexa mobile app.
- Go to Devices.
- Select All Devices and then select your device.
- If you use Reminders or Routines, select Settings to find Device Settings.
- Scroll under General and select Wake Word.
- Select the “Ziggy” wake word from the list, and then select OK.
Note: The Ziggy wake word joins existing Alexa, Computer, Echo, and Amazon wake words that have already been available to use with Alexa for years.
Where is Alexa’s new voice available?
Amazon’s masculine-sounding Alexa voice option appears to only be available in the US at launch. It could roll out to other countries down the road.