Change the VoiceOver voice on Mac
Change the default speaking voice used by VoiceOver, add additional voices (including voices for other languages), and adjust voice settings such as speaking rate or pitch.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier that you press with additional keys to enter VoiceOver commands. By default, you can press Control and Option together or just press Caps Lock.
Adjust the current voice
When VoiceOver is on, you can adjust settings like the speaking rate, pitch, and volume of the voice, or switch to another voice you’ve added.
Press and hold VO-Command-Shift, press the Right Arrow key until you hear the setting you want to adjust, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key to adjust the setting.
Release the keys to apply the new setting.
You can also adjust your VoiceOver voices in VoiceOver Utility. Go to VoiceOver Utility (press VO-Fn-F8), click the Speech category, then click Voices. Click the name of your primary VoiceOver voice to adjust its settings. Or click the pop-up menu next to an additional voice, then choose Edit.
Change the primary voice
You can change the voice that VoiceOver uses by default.
Go to VoiceOver Utility (press VO-Fn-F8 when VoiceOver is on).
Click the Speech category, then click Voices.
Click the name of the primary voice, then click Voice.
Click
to hear a sample of the voice, then click a voice to add it. If the voice isn’t already downloaded to your Mac, click 
, then click the voice when the download is complete.To adjust settings for the voice, do any of the following:
Adjust how the voice sounds: Drag the Rate, Pitch, or Volume sliders.
Restore the voice’s default settings: Click Reset Voice Settings.
Click Done.
Add additional voices
You can add additional VoiceOver voices and use the Voice rotor to switch between voices as needed. You can add multiple voices for the same language or add a voice for another language.
Note: VoiceOver is not available in all languages. See the Apple Support article Languages supported by VoiceOver.
Go to VoiceOver Utility (press VO-Fn-F8 when VoiceOver is on).
Click the Speech category, then click Voices.
Click
, then click a language in the sidebar.Click
to hear a sample of the voice, then click a voice to add it. If the voice isn’t already downloaded to your Mac, click , then click the voice when the download is complete.To adjust settings for the voice, do any of the following:
Adjust how the voice sounds: Drag the Rate, Pitch, or Volume sliders.
Restore the voice’s default settings: Click Reset Voice Settings.
Click Done.
To switch between voices using the Voice rotor, press and hold VO-Command-Shift, press the Left Arrow key until you hear Voice, then press the Down Arrow key until you hear the voice you want. Release the keys to switch to that voice.
When you install voices that are compatible with macOS, they are installed in /Library/Speech/Voices so they are available to all users of your Mac.
If you use VoiceOver portable preferences on a guest computer when you change voice settings, the settings are saved to the portable preferences drive and not to the guest computer.
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