Windows Vista and Windows 7 introduced us to Microsoft Anna, the new Text-To-Speech voice replacement. The Chinese releases of Windows 7 had Microsoft Lili. Now in Windows 11/10/8, you have Microsoft David, Microsoft Hazel or Microsoft Zira as the default voices of the operating system.

Microsoft David, Hazel, Zira Text-to-Speech

Windows has further revamped this technology. These default voices in Windows 11/10/8 sound more natural. Microsoft David is a ‘US male’ voice, Microsoft Hazel is a ‘UK female’ voice, and Microsoft Zira is a ‘US female’ voice. To hear these voices and configure them, open Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Speech Recognition. In the LHS pane click Text to Speech. Here, you can control text to speech properties and hear each of the voices by selecting the voice from the drop-down menu and clicking on the Preview  Voice button. You can also select the voice speed by moving the slider, the audio output, and the preferred audio device by clicking on the Advanced button. Want to hear how the old ones? I came across these samples on the MSDN blog. Microsoft Mary | Microsoft Mike | Microsoft Sam | Microsoft Anna.