The audio information you receive while riding the CTA, plus the timing of that information is extremely systematic. Each and every message was timed and heavily edited to be as concise and informative as possible.
For CTA riders, Lee Crooks is a name that you probably don’t know. Yet, you hear his voice every day – kind of creepy when you think about it. Crooks, a professional voiceover artist living in Milwaukee, travels to Chicago two to three times a year to record the announcements for the system’s “el” trains and buses.
He auditioned for the CTA’s prestigious role in 1997 after imitating the cheerful clear and informative styling of the announcer’s voice on Walt Disney World’s Monorail. Once receiving the job, he felt an immense responsibility to the cities population to pronounce each street name properly, as native Chicagoans say them, as his pronunciation would affect how others discuss the city.
According to an article titled “Why Computer Voices are Mostly Female” published by CNN in 2011, “It’s much easier to find a female voice that everyone likes than a male voice that everyone likes,” said Stanford University Professor Clifford Nass, author of The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships. “It’s a well-established phenomenon that the human brain is developed to like female voices.”
So then, why are the CTA announcements male? It’s because male voices are associated with authority. When the everyday function of the CTA depends on riders following the announcers instructions, using a man’s voice means it is more likely the instruction will be heard to and followed.
“Men’s voices are associated with neutrality, with authoritative, factual information,” explains Arthur Chu, an artist who’s done voice over work for brands like Safeway and Intel. “The voiceover you want for some kind of authoritative instructional video, or something asserting a dry historical fact, is going to be that baritone, somewhat monotone, slightly stern voice.”
Broadcasting multiple voices would confuse CTA riders, making it difficult to distinguish between announcements and discussion of people near you. CTA officials wanted to keep their messages as clear as possible. With a single voice, patrons quickly recognize the tone for important announcements and instructions.
How do you feel about the CTA audio experience? Does anything in this article surprise you? How would you compare your Chicago public transit audio experience to those you’ve experienced in other cities’ buses and trains?
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