![](https://help.apple.com/assets/5EF110D6680CE23B38350954/5EF110E3680CE23B3835095C/en_GB/de2b2b5574a8b3fd1fdb37f72123c104.png)
Change the voice your Mac uses to speak text
You can change the voice your Mac uses to speak text in a window or in alert messages.
Choose a voice
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Speech.
Click the System Voice pop-up menu, then choose a voice.
To adjust how fast the voice speaks, drag the Speaking Rate slider.
Click Play to test the voice and speaking rate.
Add a new voice
You can add voices to the System Voice pop-up menu. If you add a voice that’s not on your Mac, it’s automatically downloaded from Apple.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Speech.
Click the System Voice pop-up menu, then choose Customise.
Select the tickbox beside the voices you want to add.
To find a voice, enter its name, country, region or language in the search field.
To sample a voice, select it, then click Play.
Click OK.
Click the System Voice pop-up menu, then choose the voice.
The voice appears in the menu when the download is complete.
Delete a downloaded voice
You can delete a voice that you downloaded to your Mac.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Speech.
Click the System Voice pop-up menu, then choose Customise.
Deselect the tickbox beside the voice you want to delete.
Click OK, then click Delete.
If your computer is speaking and you want it to stop, try one of these solutions:
In the menu bar of the app you’re using, choose Edit > Speech > Stop Speaking.
If VoiceOver (the built-in screen reader) is speaking, press Command-F5 to turn it off.