The Future Of Voiceovers

By Author: Kathleen O
Total Articles: 6
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From automated tour guides to on hold telephone messages, voiceovers play a prominent role in our lives. Voiceovers deliver the advertising messages you hear on TV and radio and narrate e-learning programs, corporate videos, and audio books. However, as voiceover technology continues to advance, what will come of the voiceover industry? Will human interaction be replaced completely by voiceovers?

You've probably had the experience of dialing a call center and receiving an interactive voice response instead of being attended by a live customer service representative. While some may find it frustrating to interact with a machine rather than a live human being, an increasing number of businesses are using voiceovers instead of hiring and training call center staff.

In the future, every call you make may be answered by an interactive voice response rather than a live human being. Currently, interactive voice responses are advanced enough to recognize basic replies, but in the future, perhaps they will be equipped to have entire conversations with callers.

Another possibility is that the need for voice talent ...
... may disappear completely in the future. Today, speech synthesis has become so sophisticated that it can be used to create unique, virtual singing voices, so it probably won't be long until someone creates a software program that's capable of replacing male and female voice overs.

It's highly unlikely that vocalists will be completely replaced by virtual singers since people have a soft spot for live performers, but it wouldn't be surprising if voiceover software takes the place of voiceover talent, who perform most of their work behind the scenes. Unlike famous musicians and performers, voiceover talents usually have legions of adoring fans.

A voiceover software program may work by enabling you to upload a script and then converting the text into speech. You won't have to worry about doing retakes of a voiceover because you will be able to tweak its inflection, pace, and emphasis with a few clicks of a mouse.

Although it's possible that professional voice talents will be replaced by virtual voices in the distant future, it's not likely to happen as long as voice talents continue to treat voiceover delivery as an art form. Professional voice talents understand that even the slightest changes to their voice can dramatically alter its impact, and they undergo voice training in order to master the subtleties of inflection, volume, and timing.

Voiceover talents also must possess good acting skills in order to deliver voiceovers that are entertaining and believable. If machines are one day able to deliver voiceovers that are as memorable, impactful, and believable as human voices, then the voiceover artists of the future may have something to worry about, but for now, the future looks promising for the voiceover industry.

Kathleen O. has been interested in the voiceover industry for over a decade. Her experience has turned her into a valuable consultant for female voice talents.