Listeners prefer AI voices, claim two studies

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A new study seems to show that audiobook listeners prefer some AI narrators over human voices. The study, conducted by Edison Research at SSRS, blind-tested Spoken Multi-Cast narration, and discovered that, while 31% of listeners said they'd be likely to listen to AI, after listening, that number had risen to 65%. (61% thought that the AI was human). You can hear the clips here.
A separate study by Differentology, conducted for Azerion, also claims that AI-generated voices can be good for brands - especially if the accents match the part of the country where you're from. Recommendations rose 3x when people heard voices with a regional accent matched to where the listener was, like Scotland, Wales or Yorkshire.
Audioboom released its H1/26 financial results. The company made a gross profit of $9.9mn, up +33% year-on-year. Revenue was up 30%; for Q2/26 they report 183 million downloads and video views, up 84% year-on-year.

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