“A 7.45am alarm is now off,” says Michael Fassbender when I beg him for some extra sleep. Changing my iPhone’s Siri voice to that of an Irish man has been an exercise in self-soothing. Generic American register begone; now I have a generic Irish lilt – or, if I suspend my disbelief hard enough, the rapturous musings of Colin, Michael, Domnhall, or Jamie Dornan, Cillian Murphy and Kenneth Branagh. The payoff is well worth it; with each gentle instruction from your personal Irish smooth-talker, you may feel your cortisol levels declining. “The speech of most voice assistants … sends a signal that women are obliging, docile and eager-to-please helpers,” the study found.

Source: The Guardian January 16, 2022 03:19 UTC