"We don't want "more human" sounding voices that pause and add inflection in weird places. We want a steady, generic voice that helps us listen for information, errors, etc. People aren't having word documents read to them for entertainment"
That is probably what you don't want, but some of us do. I am hearingf impaired, and suffer from dyslexia. The robotic voice that you obviously enjoy drives me crazy. It creates a buzz in my hearing aids that makes me question what is actually being said.
Additionally, I have a few writing projects that help to have a smoother natual sounding voice involved to that i can find the flaws in my whiting easier. Unlike you, I prefer the program to pause and take a breath where the puncntuation indicates like a real human does.
Finally "People aren't having word documents read to them for entertainment" It helps me write peices for the entertainment of others. It is hard to see if a joke will sound properly to someone else if the replay is robotic.
If you dont like the bubbly happy girl reading then switch to one of the guys especially one of robotic male voices. Like "David"