Add and Remove Speech Voice in Windows 10

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How to Add and Remove a Speech Voice in Windows 10

New versions of Windows often add new text-to-speech voices. Windows Vista added Anna which was retained up to Windows 7. Windows 8 also had new voices, David, Zira and Hazel. Windows 10 features a set of additional voices which you can use with Narrator and Cortana. Here's how to add or remove them when needed.

If you a fan of Text-to-Speech voices, you may already know that you can get many more localized voices if you install Language Packs for your version of Windows. For example, the Spanish version includes Helena and Sabina. The French version has Microsoft Hortense, German has Hedda, Japanese has Haruka and Huihui, Chinese Traditional version has Tracy and so on.

Starting in Windows 10 build 18309, you can download additional voices in other languages without having to download language packs. Here's how it can be done.

To add a Speech Voice in Windows 10,

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Go to Time and language > Speech.
  3. On the right, click on the  Add voices button under Manage voices.
  4. In the next dialog, select the desired voices to install and click on Add.
  5. The selected voice(s) will be installed.

Alternatively, the same can be done from the Narrator page of Settings. Similarly, it allows to add a speech voice without adding a display and input language.

To add a Speech Voice in Windows 10 without Adding Language,

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Go to Ease of access > Narrator.
  3. On the right, click on Add more voices under Personalize Narrator's voice.
  4. On the next page, click on Add voices under the Manage voices section.
  5. In the next dialog, select the desired voices to install and click on Add.

To Remove a Speech Voice in Windows 10,

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Go to Time and language > Speech.
  3. On the right, select a voice you want to remove under Manage voices.
  4. Click on the Remove button under the language package name.
  5. The speech voice will be instantly removed.

You are done!

Here is the list of voices that can be found in various language packs.

LANGUAGE, COUNTRY, OR REGION MALE VOICE NAME FEMALE VOICE NAME
Arabic Not applicable Hoda
Arabic (Saudi Arabia) Naayf Not applicable
Bulgarian Ivan Not applicable
Catalan Not applicable Herena
Chinese (Simplified) Kangkang Huihui, Yaoyao
Cantonese (Traditional, Hong Kong SAR) Danny Tracy
Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan) Zhiwei Yating, Hanhan
Croatian Matej Not applicable
Czech (Czech Republic) Jakub Not applicable
Danish Not applicable Helle
Dutch Frank Not applicable
English (Australia) James Catherine
English (Canada) Richard Linda
English (Great Britain) George Hazel, Susan
English (India) Ravi Heera
English (Ireland) Sean Not applicable
English (United States) David, Mark Zira
Finnish Not applicable Heidi
Flemish (Belgian Dutch) Bart Not applicable
French (Canada) Claude Caroline
French (France) Paul Hortence, Julie
German (Germany) Stefan Hedda, Katja
German (Switzerland) Karsten Not applicable
Greek Stefanos Not applicable
Hebrew Asaf Not applicable
Hindi (India) Hemant Kalpana
Hungarian (Hungary) Szabolcs Not applicable
Indonesian (Indonesia) Andika Not applicable
Italian Cosimo Elsa
Japanese Ichiro Ayumi, Haruka
Malay Rizwan Not applicable
Norwegian Jon Not applicable
Polish (Poland) Adam Paulina
Portuguese (Brazil) Daniel Maria
Portuguese (Portugal) Not applicable Helia
Romanian (Romania) Andrei Not applicable
Russian (Russia) Pavel Irina
Slovak (Slovakia) Filip Not applicable
Slovenian Lado Not applicable
Korean Not applicable Heami
Spanish (Spain) Pablo Helena, Laura
Spanish (Mexico) Raul Sabina
Swedish Bengt Not applicable
Tamil Valluvar Not applicable
Thai (Thailand) Pattara Not applicable
Turkish Tolga Not applicable
Vietnamese An Not applicable

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

One thought on “Add and Remove Speech Voice in Windows 10”

  1. I’m so glad Microsoft introduced this feature. It is the reason I upgraded my Windows before the oficial rollout started.

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