Pick a voice that fits

Every cell on every board speaks when tapped. The voice it uses is your choice — and you can change it any time.

What you'll need

• A SpeakAnyWay account
• A communicator set up (or your own account works for trying voices out)
• Volume turned up

Pick the account-level voice (the default for everything)

1. Sign into app.speakanyway.com.
2. Open Settings from the user menu (top-right).
3. Find the Voice section.
4. You'll see a list of available voices — the full library is included on every plan, with adult, child, and accented options.
5. Click Play sample next to each voice to hear what it sounds like.
6. Pick the one that fits — a higher voice, a lower voice, a calmer cadence, something that feels right for the person who'll be using it.
7. Click Save.

The voice you picked now plays for every cell on every board, unless something more specific overrides it (see below).

Override the voice for one board

For boards where a different voice makes sense — a calmer voice for a bedtime routine, a louder one for emergencies — set a per-board voice:

1. Open the board.
2. Find Board settings (usually a gear icon).
3. Look for Voice override.
4. Pick a different voice.
5. Save.

Override the voice for one cell

For a single cell that should sound different — e.g., "help" in a louder voice — set a per-cell voice:

1. In edit mode on the board, click the cell.
2. In the cell editor, find the Voice option.
3. Pick a different voice.
4. Save.

How the hierarchy works

When a cell is tapped, SpeakAnyWay picks the voice in this order — the most specific one wins:

1. Cell voice (if set) →
2. Board voice (if set) →
3. Account voice (the default you picked).

So if you set a board-level voice for the bedtime board, every cell on that board uses it — unless a specific cell has its own voice override.

What to expect

• You can change the voice as often as you want. It's not a one-time decision. If the voice you picked doesn't fit after a week, switch it.
• Voices play out of whichever device's speaker is being used. Headphones, external speakers, AirPods — whatever is connected works.
• Volume matters more than you'd think. Most "the voice isn't working" reports turn out to be a muted device. Crank it up.
• All voices are available on every plan. The full library — adult, child, accented, multiple genders — is included whether you're on Free, Basic, or Pro.

Picking a voice that fits

A few things that help:

• Try a couple before committing. Play three or four samples — the one that sounds right will usually become obvious.
• Match the age, not the exact match. A 7-year-old who's nonspeaking doesn't need a 7-year-old voice. Pick what feels appropriate to them, even if that's an older voice that sounds more like a peer or a parent.
• Test it on a real board. Samples are short. Open one of their boards and tap a few cells with the new voice before you commit.
• Ask them. If your communicator can react to options ("which one sounds best?"), let them pick. It's their voice.

Common questions

• Can I record my own voice? Not yet. Custom-recorded voices are on the roadmap.
• Why does the voice sound different on a different device? Some devices have different built-in voice quality. SpeakAnyWay falls back to the device's voice if it can't load the cloud voice — usually because of an offline browser or a corporate network blocking it.
• Are there voices in other languages? Yes — Spanish TTS voices are available now. The Spanish UI is mostly there too; a few corners still default to English while translation finishes.
• The voice plays the wrong word. That's a board issue, not a voice issue. The cell's Label is what's spoken (or its custom audio file, if one is uploaded) — edit the Label. See Edit a board.
• The voice sounds robotic. Make sure you're picking a "natural" voice from the list. The built-in device voices are robotic; SpeakAnyWay's hosted voices are not.