People are missing the woman whose voice you hear at airports and train stations

Carolyn Hopkins’ voice is heard in more than 200 airports around the world

People miss the voice heard in airports and public transportation hubs (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

As working from home and travelling less continue to be the norm amid the pandemic, people are wistfully remembering the recorded voice heard in airports, train stations and other public transportation hubs.

On Wednesday, journalist Yashar Ali paid tribute to the woman behind the commonly used voice announcing delays, service announcements and safety tips, tweeting: “I miss her voice so much ... meet Carolyn Hopkins the woman you often hear at airports and train stations.”

Along with the tweet, Ali included a CBS News behind-the-scenes video that shows Hopkins’ work and shares lesser-known details about the 74-year-old narrator, whose voice can be heard in more than 200 airports.

In another clip, the public service announcer, who is from Maine, explains that the reason she does the announcements is because she is trying to “help people” and that it is an “honour”.

“The reason why I enjoy doing this is I'm trying to help people. It's an honour,” she said of the recordings, which are heard everywhere from the New York City subway to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Ali’s original tweet has since been liked more than 9,000 times and viewed 376,000 times and prompted hundreds of responses from others who miss hearing Hopkins’ voice while travelling.

“I was unprepared for the wave of nostalgia that hit me from just hearing her voice,” one person tweeted.

Another said: “So many of us are missing Carolyn's voice. Love that this is a real person. Who knew.”

“Gosh I didn’t realise how much I miss her voice until now,” someone else wrote.

Others came to the realisation that Hopkins’ voice is not automated, but rather that of a real person, with one person writing: “Umm … I thought that voice was computer-generated.”

But, while countless people have heard Hopkins’ instructions, she previously revealed that she is not often recognised when she speaks in person.

(CBS News )

“They think they know me from somewhere, and sometimes people don't pay one bit of attention at all…” she told NPR in 2012.