The start-up “Sanas” wants to use technology to make call center employees sound whiter and more American, no matter what country they come from. In addition, the small company is planning the next steps – and wants to change the world.
There are many bright minds in the southern San Francisco Bay Area in California. Start-up companies and global technology companies such as Apple, Facebook and Google romp about in the famous Silicon Valley. “Sanas” is also one of those Silicon Valley start-ups. The goal of the voice tech company: make the world sound whiter.
“Sanas creates a connected, friendly and empathetic world by revolutionizing the way we communicate,” the young company’s website reads. It continues: “Our mission is to make life better by expanding the horizons of what’s possible with your voice.”
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If you continue surfing on the website of the software company, you will quickly end up with a demo. “Hear the Magic” is written there. A man grins broadly. Below that, a sound track demonstrates a classic call center conversation. The employee speaks with an Indian accent. Now you can activate a slider and listen to the conversation with the Sanas software. Sounding somewhat robotic, the accent is gone and the employee speaks like a white American.
It’s the kind of voice Americans are heavily conditioned to have through radio, television, and other media. Tom McEnaney, a professor of comparative literature at Berkeley, also refers to the voice as the “white voice”. “We assumed that the language patterns commonly associated with being white in the United States were a neutral sound, a standard sound,” he told SFGATE news portal.
Sanas President Marty Sarim emphasizes that Sanas does not want to say “that accents are a problem just because you have one”. Accents are only a problem because they lead to prejudice and misunderstandings. The thinking behind Accent Concealment technology: Callers are more polite and more willing to seek help when they think they are speaking to someone more like them. In plain language: They are less insulting, calmer and less racist.
Call center employees in countries like India or the Philippines have to put up with a lot. Working conditions in are harsh: frustrated callers talk to people with no real authority to solve problems. Scripts have to be rattled off, surveillance systems keep a close eye on employees’ work. They are recorded and analyzed. They’ll get on-screen warnings if they’re speaking too fast or too slow.
It’s also not new that call centers are urging their employees to develop an accent that sounds “neutral” to Americans. Some even adopt American names or identities, some so thoroughly that they subsequently experience a severe form of dissociation (partial to complete disintegration of normally related psychic functions) during work hours. This emerges from the research of Winifred Poster, professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis.
Experts expressed concern about the voice start-up’s approach to SFGATE. For example, Poster describes the situation as follows: “On the surface, it reflects communication difficulties – people who are unable to understand another’s language. But in reality, how the accent breeds racism and ethnocentrism is code for a whole host of other problems.”
All “the real problems of outsourcing” will not be solved even with the Sanas technology and a focus on the accent, says Poster. The opposite is true: they are hidden under the voice of a white American, making the caller feel better. However, the shortcomings remain.
“A service like Sanas probably wouldn’t help call center workers,” Poster continues. Not even with a flawless synthetic accent. “It doesn’t hide the fact that outsourcing exists or that the call isn’t likely to be made in the United States,” she says. “Even if you have a different name or accent, they can still recognize it.”
In the end, technology serves the well-being of Americans. And even if the voices of the employees no longer trigger racist harassment, the culture of strict surveillance and little autonomy will remain, the sociologist sums up. And that leads to burnout and immense stress.
In any case, Sanas is reaching for the stars. According to the company’s promotional materials, at least seven outsourcing firms have already deployed Sanas products in their call centers. In the future, there are also plans to set up a headquarters in India and also to adjust accents in video and audio recordings for consumers. The interest in film and television is there, new voices are in the works. At some point even different American dialects should be possible. Depending on where the caller is coming from, the “right” voice can be selected at the other end of the listener. The call center employee then gradually disappears from the public eye.
In any case, Sanas President Marty Sarim is convinced of the technology: “We believe that we are on the verge of a technological breakthrough that will enable everyone to be understood around the world. We don’t see anything bad coming out of this.”
