How to change the horrible robotic voice when navigating with Android phone?

Lenny O

******UPDATE *** ***** ISSUE RESOLVED ********

Ok, folks. All good now!
Going thru the settings in the Audio section of the MyRoute App on my Galaxy S22+,
I've noticed that the TTS Engine was saying <Unknown>.
Upon touching it, the new screen came up and offered 2 choices:

Samsung Engine
Google Engine

Both work nicely with pleasant voice. BUT...
the Google Engine is the one that offers many languages and many voices within.
Samsung Engine offered English or Spanish with limited voices.

SO, I hope it helps someone else.

P.S. I was, as suggested by the Forum, looking for the "Engine" in phone settings, and that did not cure anything, no matter what I did...

Corjan Meijerink

@Lenny-O great!

Con Hennekens

@Lenny-O, That's indeed what we meant

M. Schrijver

Does anybody know a good alternative to the robotic voice of the Google engine.
The previous MRA navigation app had it's own voice engine. That one sounded much better.

Con Hennekens

@M-Schrijver said in How to change the horrible robotic voice when navigating with Android phone?:

Does anybody know a good alternative to the robotic voice of the Google engine.

The MRA app offers a plethora of voices to choose from within the app audio settings. Some are pretty fluent. Try them.

M. Schrijver

Those are variants (speed corrections) of the standard Google Engine which are also selectable in the Android settings. De selectable voices in MRA are not specific for MRA. MRA just made the already available option easy accessible.
The Google Engine does have some better voices than the standard horrible female robotic voice. But they are still not that easy to listen to and still low on volume.
But the famous dutch voice "Bram" (many TomTom devices) is much much more easier to listen to. This is a natural voice.

The previous MRA navigation app had also the option for those more natural voices.

Con Hennekens

@M-Schrijver said in How to change the horrible robotic voice when navigating with Android phone?:

Those are variants (speed corrections) of the standard Google Engine which are also selectable in the Android settings.

I cannot argue about your phone, but on mine that is definitely not true. In the Android settings I have no choice in voices whatsoever. In the app I get to choose between 11 Dutch voices. Some of them really sound alike. but not all. Voice 1 is the standard android voice which Google Maps also uses. I guess that this is the one you call "robotic". I prefere Voice 11, a naturally speaking female voice. Voice 10 is a naturally speaking male voice.

This recording shows 3 completely different voices:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4y6bNgHKbhGgyKhc8

M. Schrijver

Voice 1 is the default Google voice. Which is also default for MRA. That one is really horrible. When i hear her the whole day in my head, a mental breakdown could be a result

Voice 10 and 11 are better. Where i prefer voice 10 (man), because (again) the woman voice is sharp in my head (helmet). Both are still robotic/electronic

But this voice is still easier for my ears. No sharp tones, very clear to understand while driving.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/WgPYc915Pj2AG2A49

I use a pixel phone. So only one voice engine is available

Search for Text to Speech output in your Android settings. Mostly under "Language".
There you can find all installed engines.

Con Hennekens

@M-Schrijver, I guess it's personal preference. I have no problem whatsoever with the default voice either. The voice you prefer would probably make me disable it completely He sounds like Bill Withers his nephew being a politician

M. Schrijver

I can imagine what you mean. But take my word. In a helmet the voice sound a lot easier to the ear than on a laptop. It is calm, no sharp tones, very clear to understand in noisey (wind) conditions.

The sharp tones in the default TTS engine of Android is for me the biggest problem.

Other benefit of the voice i made a sample of. It is louder than the default voices of Android.

Because it is louder it evens out (almost) the volume levels differences between... let say Spotify or online radio apps.

When i listen to online radio on a decent volume level with my prefered app. The volume of the MRA directions has a very low volume level. I almost cannot hear what the directions are.

This is not perse a MRA problem but inherent to the Google TTS Engine. Other navigation apps which use the Google TTS engine have the same problem.
So it would be nice if MRA could fix this also somehow