In Windows XP and Windows 2000, you had the TTS voice known as Microsoft SAM. In these earlier versions, Microsoft Mike and Microsoft Mary were the optional male and female voices respectively, which were available for download from the Microsoft website. But these did not work on the later Windows versions.
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.
