After detecting that an event occurs for which notification is desired, a notification service determines an appropriate way to notify the user given the user's current circumstances. The notification service determines the appropriate notification method by accessing context information for the user (e.g., whether the user's telephone is on, busy, in hands-free mode, in meeting mode, or the like). The notification service then accesses a set of rules from which the appropriate notification method may be determined based on the current circumstances of the user. These rules may be, for example, default rules or may be set of the user. The notification service then causes the notification to be sent to the user using the appropriate notification method. The notification methods include voice notifications in which the notification is read to the user.