How to change the text-to-speech voice and speed on a Mac

Short answerOpen System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content (called Read & Speak on newer macOS). Pick a voice from System voice, use Manage Voices in that menu to download an Enhanced or Premium voice, and drag Speaking rate to set the speed. Select text and press Option-Esc to hear it. It's free and built in. In Terminal, say -v picks a voice and say -r sets words per minute. Aloud adds speed changes mid-sentence (0.75x to 2x), the on-device Kokoro voice and a follow-along reader.

Change the voice and speed in System Settings

1. Open the speech settings. Choose Apple menu → System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content. On newer macOS the pane may be called Read & Speak.
2. Choose a System voice. Click the System voice menu and pick a voice. Click Play Sample to hear it.
3. Download a better voice. In the System voice menu choose Manage Voices, find your language and download a voice marked Enhanced or Premium. Then select it as the System voice.
4. Set the Speaking rate. Drag the Speaking rate slider left for slower or right for faster, and click Play Sample after each change.
5. Test it with Speak Selection. Switch on Speak selection, select some text in any app and press Option-Esc. Press it again to stop.

Apple has moved and renamed this pane between releases. On macOS 14 Sonoma and 15 Sequoia it's Spoken Content; on newer versions look for Read & Speak under Accessibility. If the labels on your Mac differ slightly, search System Settings for "speaking rate" or "system voice". Full setup for the shortcut and highlighting is in how to turn on Speak Selection.

Which voices to download

• Compact voices are the small defaults. They're quick to install and robotic over long stretches.
• Enhanced and Premium voices are larger downloads in Manage Voices and sound much more natural. They're free, work offline, and any app that uses the system voices can read with them.
• Siri voices can be picked as the System voice for Speak Selection, but they're generally not available to other apps or to Terminal.

Comparisons, including neural and cloud voices, are in the most natural-sounding voices on Mac.

Change speed while it's reading

Click the info (i) button next to Speak selection and set Show controller to Automatically. A small controller then appears while your Mac reads, with pause, skip and speed buttons, so you don't have to go back to System Settings to speed up or slow down.

Terminal: the say command

The say command uses the same installed voices and lets you set voice and rate per use:

say -v '?'                      # list installed voices
say -v Samantha "Testing one two three"
say -r 220 "A little faster than usual"
say -v Samantha -r 160 -f draft.txt

-r is words per minute; around 175 to 200 is a normal speaking pace. Voice names with spaces or brackets, such as downloaded Enhanced or Premium voices, need quotes: copy the name exactly as say -v '?' prints it. To save the speech as a file, see export text to audio on Mac.

Picking a voice and speed

For proofreading

• Normal speed or a little slower. Errors slip past at fast rates.
• A clear voice you know well, then switch voices for the last pass so familiar text sounds new.
• More in how to proofread by listening.

For listening to articles and documents

• Start near normal speed and raise it a step at a time over a few days. Many people end up comfortable well above their first setting.
• Use the most natural voice you have (Premium, Enhanced or a neural voice) for long sessions; it's less tiring.
• Slow down for dense passages, such as numbers, names and technical text, rather than replaying them.

What Aloud adds

The built-in settings are one voice and one rate for everything. Aloud (ours, $19 once) gives you more control while you read:

• Speed from 0.75x to 2x, changed any time, mid-sentence, without opening System Settings.
• Your Mac's voices, including the Enhanced and Premium ones you downloaded above.
• Kokoro on your Mac: a natural-sounding neural voice that runs on device, a one-time 327 MB download with eight English voices (Apple silicon and macOS 15 or later).
• Bring your own ElevenLabs or Cartesia API key to read with their voices; the provider bills you directly and the key stays in your Keychain.
• A pronunciation list so names and jargon sound right in any voice.
• Shortcuts and Siri actions, including setting the speed, and .m4a export in your chosen voice.

With Apple or Kokoro voices, nothing you read leaves your Mac. Aloud runs on macOS 14 or later; the 3-day trial needs no card or account.