Change the ATC voice in FSX or FSX: Steam Edition, select a pilot voice, understand controller limits, and fix silent or unchanged speech.
In FSX and FSX: Steam Edition, open Settings, choose General, then use the Air Traffic Control section to enable a pilot voice and select one from the voice list. This changes the voice speaking your aircraft’s radio calls. FSX assigns controller voices automatically, so they cannot be chosen individually through the normal menus.
How do I select a different pilot voice?
The pilot voice selector is in FSX’s General settings and applies to the simulator’s built-in, menu-driven ATC.
- Open General settings. From the opening screen, select Settings and then General. During a flight, reveal the menu bar and use Options, Settings, General.
- Find the Air Traffic Control section. Enable Use a pilot voice; otherwise, your selected radio responses may not be spoken.
- Choose a pilot voice. Select one of the voices included with your FSX installation from the adjacent list.
- Save and test it. Open the ATC window and make a transmission such as an initial call or readback. If you have changed the key assignment, consult our FSX keyboard-command reference.
The selection is a general simulator preference, so it is not tied to one aircraft. Only voices supplied with the installed FSX language edition appear in the list.
Which FSX ATC voice does this setting change?
The setting changes only the pilot voice representing your own aircraft, not every voice heard over the radio.
| Audio | Changed by the pilot voice setting? |
|---|---|
| Your menu-selected ATC calls and readbacks | Yes |
| Ground, tower, departure, approach and centre | No |
| ATIS broadcasts | No |
| Aircraft warnings and cabin announcements | No |
| Human speech in multiplayer | No |
FSX chooses its controller voices internally and may reuse the same voices across different facilities. The General settings screen does not provide a tower, ground or centre voice selector.
Why did the FSX ATC voice not change?
If the voice sounds unchanged, the usual cause is that you are listening to the controller rather than your aircraft’s outgoing transmission.
- Test the correct side of the exchange: select an ATC response and listen to your aircraft’s spoken call or readback.
- Check the pilot-voice option: selecting a voice is not enough if Use a pilot voice remains disabled.
- Do not use Windows narrator settings: FSX uses its own recorded ATC voice resources, so changing the Windows text-to-speech voice does not add or replace FSX voices.
- Check the Voice audio channel: if ATC text appears but no speech is audible, inspect the Voice volume and selected playback device under Sound settings. Our ATC audio troubleshooting steps cover the remaining causes.
- Account for add-ons: an ATC replacement using its own audio system may ignore the standard FSX pilot-voice setting.
Can I install different controller voices or phrases?
FSX has no standard menu for installing an arbitrary controller actor or importing a Windows speech voice.
The simulator assembles transmissions from recorded voice fragments. Voicepack modifications can alter vocabulary, phraseology and some spoken exchanges; our FSX ATC sound-modification download explains an EditVoicepack-based option. Back up original voicepack data and follow the package’s FSX-specific instructions before changing it.
If the voice is acceptable but ATC is saying the wrong airline, flight number or registration, that is a callsign setting rather than a voice setting. Use the separate instructions for changing an aircraft’s FSX ATC callsign.