Business Wire

ReadSpeaker VoiceLab Powers Sonos Voice Control Custom Voice

17.5.2022 15:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share

ReadSpeaker, the most trusted, independent digital voice partner for global businesses, today announced that Sonos, the world’s leading sound experience company, has selected the ReadSpeaker VoiceLab to create a custom voice for Sonos Voice Control, the brand’s voice assistant. Sonos selected VoiceLab, ReadSpeaker’s custom voice production unit, because of the company’s proven experience and expertise in state-of-the-art, AI-driven text-to-speech.

Leading consumer brands are looking to develop their own voice assistants to provide consistently on-brand, personalized and engaged automated customer experiences. Those with a visionary strategy and commitment to consumer privacy, like Sonos, are understanding the broader importance of AI-driven digital voice in helping expand their business and meet consumer needs and expectations, even as they quickly evolve.

The ReadSpeaker VoiceLab managed the development process, including carrying out recordings with Giancarlo Esposito, processing the recorded data, training Deep Neural Networking (DNN) models on that data, and managing quality control, delivery, and all necessary quality assurance steps. Because of the technicality of the voice recordings required to build the custom voice, which requires speech to be delivered in an extremely consistent way that prioritizes precise articulation and style, ReadSpeaker’s VoiceLab experts worked closely with Esposito throughout every stage of the process.

A key challenge in the development of this custom voice was the need for it to comprehend and pronounce non-standard text content that is often found in the music industry. It was also critical that the assistant was able to read artists’ track or album information in numerous languages. The VoiceLab team worked closely with Sonos and Esposito to optimize the speech output for this massively broad domain.

Sonos Voice Control is an entirely new voice experience that delivers fast, accurate hands-free control of your music and your Sonos system with unmatched privacy. Designed with privacy at its core, Sonos Voice Control is the simplest way to control your music, offering complete command of your Sonos system using only your voice. Sonos Voice Control works on every voice-capable Sonos speaker, processing requests entirely on the device. No audio or transcript is sent to the cloud, stored, listened to or read by anyone. Available from June 1 in the US and later this year in France on all voice capable Sonos products, Sonos Voice Control is compatible with Sonos Radio, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, and Pandora at launch. More services and markets will follow.

“We selected ReadSpeaker to power the custom voice for Sonos Voice Control for a variety of reasons, not least of which was their ability to work closely with us from the development phase all the way through delivery,” said Joseph Dureau, Vice President, Voice Experience, at Sonos. “ReadSpeaker’s approach to custom voice is innovative and extremely thorough – which is exactly what we required for this project – and the company’s dedicated linguistic team has been a critical tool for us throughout this project.”

“As brands become increasingly aware that, much like a visual logo, a custom voice ensures consistently engaging, on-brand interactions across touchpoints, our VoiceLab is developing voices that speak to their brand persona and create unique experiences,” said Roy Lindemann, CMO and CCO EMEA, at ReadSpeaker. “With more consumers leveraging digital voice every day for everything from making purchases to choosing which playlist to listen to, having a custom branded voice is becoming table stakes for delivering a quality, personalized CX in real time. By partnering with Sonos, we are helping to bring yet another brand’s voice to life in an exciting, innovative way.”

Watch the SVC Custom Voice “behind the scenes” video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwJ8Ub10arQ

For more information about the ReadSpeaker VoiceLab, visit www.readspeaker.ai/solutions/custom-text-to-speech-tts-voices/.

About ReadSpeaker:
ReadSpeaker is the most trusted independent digital voice partner for global brands, institutions, and organizations. With over 20 years’ experience, ReadSpeaker’s AI-powered text-to-speech solutions and expert assistance enhance the accessibility of digital content and enable more user-friendly and engaging interactions with technology. The company’s flexible cloud and on-premise solutions bring over 110 expressive, humanlike synthetic voices in more than 35 languages to any application or device. The company consistently maintains its uncompromising commitment to data privacy and has so far speech enabled over 10,000 voice applications worldwide.

ReadSpeaker’s digital voice design brand, readspeaker.ai, helps agencies, integrators, and developers to enhance CX and drive sales through consistently engaging, on-brand interactions across touchpoints. For more information, go to readspeaker.ai and follow the company on Twitter and LinkedIn.

To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.

Contact information

ReadSpeaker:
Victoria Newell
V2 Communications for ReadSpeaker
readspeaker@v2comms.com

About Business Wire

For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Sinopec Receives CSR Award at Sino-European ESG Conference in Germany1.7.2026 16:38:00 EEST | Press release

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) has received the Corporate Social Responsibility Best Practice Award at the 3rd Sino-European Corporate ESG Best Practice Conference in Mainz, Germany, for its case study on carbon footprint management and low-carbon development. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260701696760/en/ Huang Yiyang (L), Chinese Consul General in Frankfurt, presents the award to a representative of Sinopec. The conference jury said Sinopec has developed a carbon management framework centered on product carbon footprint management, covering the full product life cycle while aligning with both Chinese and European standards. It cited the company’s work with German chemical producer BASF to achieve mutual recognition of carbon footprint accounting methodologies as a milestone that could support greener cooperation across international industrial supply chains. According to the jury, Sinopec’s eff

Vercel and Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team Announce Multi-Year Strategic Partnership1.7.2026 16:30:00 EEST | Press release

Today Vercel, the agentic infrastructure company, announced a new multi-year deal with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team. Starting with the British Grand Prix July 2 – 5 2026, Vercel branding will appear on the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team race cars as the partnership begins its first chapter, before expanding significantly across the team ecosystem from 2027 onward. The partnership includes global branding rights, premium hospitality experiences, customer engagement, content creation, and technical collaborations, including plans to evolve the team’s digital platforms to Vercel. “Formula One is where every millisecond matters, every decision counts, and continuous innovation is fundamental to success. Vercel shares that same philosophy,” said Richard Sanders, Chief Commercial Officer, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team. “The Vercel platform is helping organizations around the world build faster, perform better, and innovate with confidence. We are excited to wel

OXMIQ Raises $35 Million to Scale OxCore™ Architecture1.7.2026 16:15:00 EEST | Press release

OXMIQ Labs Inc., a unified GPU and AI architecture company founded by Raja Koduri, today closed its $35 million Series A financing, bringing the company’s total capital raised to $60 million. The funding will scale OxCore™, OXMIQ’s licensable GPU architecture that allows semiconductor companies and AI system builders to build custom AI silicon without a full chip program. The round was co-led by Fundomo and Samsung Catalyst Fund, with participation from MediaTek, AM Intelligence Labs, Pegatron Venture Capital, CDIB-TEN, Darwin Ventures, and Morgan Creek Digital, among other financial and strategic investors. OXMIQ’s expertise spans the full AI stack, from renewable power and data center infrastructure to silicon IP, electron-to-token machines (ETMs™), along with the software that runs AI factories and agents. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260701241910/en/ OXMIQ Funding raised to date of $60M after current $3

SamanTree Medical’s Histolog ® Scanner Technology Featured in 13 Publications in Special BJU International Issue on Confocal Microscopy in Urology1.7.2026 16:01:00 EEST | Press release

SamanTree Medical, a global leader in surgical imaging innovation, today announced that Histolog Scanner confocal microscopy technology has been featured in 13 peer-reviewed clinical papers in a special issue of BJU International, one of the world’s leading journals in urology. The special edition focuses on a growing body of evidence of the role of confocal microscopy in urologic surgery. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260701425845/en/ SamanTree Medical announces that Histolog® Scanner confocal microscopy technology is featured in 13 peer-reviewed clinical papers in a special issue of BJU International. “The special issue represents increasing momentum behind confocal microscopy in urologic surgery,” said Professor Greg Shaw, consultant urologic surgeon at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and author of several studies in the special issue. “This collection, ranging from radical prostatectomy to eme

Regnology to Acquire Fed Reporter, Accelerating U.S. Leadership and Advancing Regulatory Modernization1.7.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release

Regnology, a leading provider at the intersection of regulatory, risk, and supervisory technology, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Fed Reporter, the market-leading U.S. provider of regulatory reporting solutions for financial institutions of all sizes, including banks, credit unions, and bank holding companies. The acquisition marks a pivotal milestone in Regnology’s U.S. expansion, creating the most comprehensive regulatory reporting coverage across the American financial landscape and extending its reach to more than 4,000 institutions from global banks to community lenders. By combining a proven, cloud-first, agentic-first technology foundation with deeply embedded local expertise, Regnology is uniquely positioned to support more efficient, transparent, and data-driven reporting, while strengthening alignment between financial institutions and supervisory authorities. “This is the next step in our U.S. strategy,” said Rob Mackay, CEO of Regnolog

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye