http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/tech/mobile/bennett-siri-iphone-voice/index.html Sandy Springs, Georgia (CNN) -- For the past two years, she's been a pocket and purse accessory to millions of Americans. She's starred alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel. She's provided weather forecasts and restaurant tips, been mocked as useless and answered absurd questions about what she's wearing. She is Siri, Apple's voice-activated virtual "assistant" introduced to the masses with the iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011. Behind this groundbreaking technology there is a real woman. While the ever-secretive Apple has never identified her, all signs indicate that the original voice of Siri in the United States is a voiceover actor who laid down recordings for a client eight years ago. She had no idea she'd someday be speaking to more than 100 million people through a not-yet-invented phone. Her name is Susan Bennett and she lives in suburban Atlanta. Apple won't confirm it. But Bennett says she is Siri. Professionals who know her voice, have worked with her and represent her legally say she is Siri. And an audio-forensics expert with 30 years of experience has studied both voices and says he is "100%" certain the two are the same. Bennett, who won't divulge her age, fell into voice work by accident in the 1970s. Today, she can be heard worldwide. She speaks up in commercials and on countless phone systems. She spells out directions from GPS devices and addresses travelers in Delta airport terminals. Until now, it's been a career that's afforded her anonymity. But a new Apple mobile operating system, iOS 7, with new Siri voices means that Bennett's reign as the American Siri is slowly coming to an end. At the same time, tech-news site The Verge posted a video last month, "How Siri found its voice," that led some viewers to believe that Allison Dufty, the featured voiceover talent, was Siri. A horrified Dufty scrambled in response, writing on her website that she is "absolutely, positively NOT the voice of Siri," but not before some bloggers had bought into the hype. And there sat Bennett, holding onto her secret, laughing and watching it all. For so long she'd been goaded by others, including her son and husband, to come forward. Her Siri counterparts in the UK and Australia had revealed their identities, after all. So why not her? It was her question to wrestle with, and finally she found her answer. "I really had to weigh the importance of it for me personally. I wasn't sure that I wanted that notoriety, and I also wasn't sure where I stood legally. And so, consequently, I was very conservative about it for a long time," she said. "And then this Verge video came out ... And it seemed like everyone was clamoring to find out who the real voice behind Siri is, and so I thought, well, you know, what the heck? This is the time."

• published: 04 Oct 2013
• views: 75