Kat Callaghan has kept the secret for months.

The mother of the family, who hosts a morning radio show on station 91.5 the beat Kitchener sometimes received messages from listeners who thought they recognized her on the popular app, but she didn’t dare tell them the truth.

I appreciated my anonymity. […] When you tell people, that’s it, you become the voice of TikTok, and I wasn’t sure I wanted that.

By seeing people wondering about the origin of the playful voice of jessie On social networks, the young woman finally decided to answer them.

You asked me if I’m the voice on TikTok. I can finally tell you that it’s melaunched Kat Callaghan in a video posted to the platform in October.

She was far from anticipating the tidal wave she would create. The video has now more than 47 million views.

” People from all over the world have contacted me. From Dubai to Australia, everywhere. »

They tell me they feel like they know me. Of course, this voice that describes videos is not me as a person, but I realized that I am part of their lifeShe says.

International media quickly picked up the story. From CNN to American shows Good morning America and Inner Editionsome of the world’s largest television networks have devoted reports to him.

Kat Callaghan was even interviewed by famous American producer Ryan Seacrest.

A voice like no other

TikTok has over a billion users worldwide. You can use text-to-speech (also called technology). text to speech) to read displayed text. The platform has almost thirty options, including the ones called jessie created from the voice of Kat Callaghan.

The young woman, who also produces voice-overs for all sorts of audiovisual productions, does not want to reveal how she got this job or how her voice was recorded.

However, she thinks what makes her successful is the playful and happy nature of her voice.

” This option [vocale] was different from what you are used to. […] It’s more affected, less monotonous. »

The Professor of Head and Neck Surgery and Linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Jody Kreiman has been studying voice perception for years and is not surprised by its popularity jessie among young users of the platform.

According to her, it has a combination of factors that make it particularly enjoyable.

” She is bright and energetic, very feminine but not sexy, confident but not aggressive. She manages to find a nice balance. »

Politicians would benefit from studying this voice. […] There’s a fine line between being too aggressive, not feminine enough, weak, too young, however [cette voix] finds this balance and is very pleasant to listen toadds the expert.

Still, Kat Callaghan says her voice isn’t unanimous.

There will always be people who don’t like my voice and working in my field has hardened me a lot. It does not bother meShe launches the young woman.

Improving digital accessibility

If partially synthetic voices are used on TikTok for humorous purposes, the tool also makes it possible to promote the accessibility of the platform’s content, especially for the illiterate, visually impaired or print disabled.

A reality Kat Callaghan had never faced before working for TikTok.

There are people with vision problems who have contacted me to say thank youShe says.

In her opinion, more platforms should use this tool.

I almost feel like a spokesman for people in need […] I want to use my position to do good, and if that means standing up for people who need more platforms using this technology, then I will.She says.