VernonDozier

From what I saw in interviews, Susan Bennet was originally hired by either Lucent Technologies (now Nokia BellLabs) or Avaya to annunciate virtually every vowel/consonant combination and sometimes multiple annunciations and even happy/sad/sarcastic tones in the English language.  These recordings were originally made for PBX systems.  

In that interview, Susan said it was painstaking work; with over 4,000 hours of audio recorded and catalogued.  However, BellLabs was able to study and research text-to-speech using a living person's voices.  Imainge that job..!

In the end, it was easier for Avaya/BellLabs to develop call path routing, and hire a voice actor to create 20 (or more) voice prompts.  It was actually the Siri company that apple acquired that found the BellLabs work useful in the modern age of computing.  

PBXes and phone tree menus reverted back to something similar to when you call 1-800-MY-APPLE to ask for any type of customer service after the sale.   As an example, "Hi, I'm an automated system that can understand full sentences to route you to the most expensive customer service Rep.  So, how much money do you have in your purse today?" Or "Your purse seems a little heavy, why don't you come into an Apple Store and lighten it".  These are PBX phone tree prompt Jeff Goldblum wouldn't have desired to be credited with.  But crediting him as a potential Siri Voice is misplaced.  That would have been Nokia BellLabs' decision.  😀