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Microphone sensitivity for the “Alexa” wake word is low

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262 replies

D
+1 with same issue. First Sonos product I’ve purchased, mic sensitivity poor. Can Sonos provide an ETA for fix please or I’ll be returning Sonos One.
K
+1 exactly the same as the original poster. Despite the One being 2 foot away and no where near the tv it takes 2-3 tries to activate it. Echo responds 1st time 80% of the time. Would appreciate this a update to this issue.
C
Badge +1
Set up my Sonos One yesterday and I am DEEPLY disappointed with the poor microphone sensitivity. I literally have to stand no more than one foot away and scream before it responds.
Now I see that (according to Ryan) this is a known issue that is at least 8 weeks old. I have 9 Sonos components spread all over my house and have been very happy with them and have always enjoyed good support when needed. This is terrible!
U
Badge
Replaced an Echo Dot in my bedroom with a Sonos one; I have 7 other Sonos speakers, and 3 echo devices, all in a fairly open loft space. When I shout at the Sonos One to get it to turn off lights and shuffle a Playlist I like to fall asleep by, 2 other echos on 2 floors try to answer. The Dot, over 60 ft away always answers before the One, about 6 feet away.
Sonos, the sound quality of the One is so much higher than the speaker cabled top the Dot, but I don't want to shout at any time to any device. Please fix this!
V
Ryan, can you explain how a cloud update is going to fix the locally processed Alexa wake word? Also when is the fix being put in place? The request for an ETA seems to be being ignored.

I asked a similar question couple of weeks ago and Sonos has not replied. I am not sure how cloud updates can help the wake word issue. There are currently 2 major issues - 1) One has to shout to get Alexa's attention on Sonos one and 2) False positives of wake word when people are talking in the room and/or TV is on. Sonos not providing a proper explanation other than cloud updates does not help. Very very disappointed with Sonos for the first time (other than their new 8.0 app update)
R
totally agree with MJGUNN report that sonos1 with Alexa is suffering from an unacceptable microphone setting. You have to be within 2m-3m of the unit for it to pick you up. What is the solution / upgrade / setting ?
R
Could a temp fix be to use an echo or dot for picking up Alexa commands, then switch off the inbuilt microphone within the Sonos1 ? If so how ?
S
Thanks for the feedback everyone. The microphone sensitivity is entirely software, in the early stages test players would pick up just about anything. It's something that'll get better over time too. So you can count on that improving.
S
So I think it is more than sensitivity, pitch of voice is the real issue. My 14 year old daughter wakes Alexa up from the far end of the living room whereas using my normal voice from half the distance away gets stony silence. If I change the pitch of my voice the hit rate improves significantly. Perhaps most of your testers had high-pitched voices? 😃
B
Agree that the microphone sensitivity is hugely disappointing. The only reason I got the One was because of another flaw that the Echo dot will not “stay connected” to Sonos the same way it does to a Bluetooth speaker. With “stay connected” I mean that it will not respond through the speaker and God forbid you forget to say “play music in the XX ROOM” it will just play music in the Echo. So I got the One which solves this problem but it can’t hear anything and my Echo which could be in another room still picks up the commands first.

Does anybody know a fix to the first problem or whether that problem is with Echo or Sonos? Very annoying.
M
Userlevel 1
I bought two Sonos One units in a household with several Echo devices. The Sonos is absolutely terrible at picking up the wake word. I bought my Sonos Ones on Black Friday so I'm going to give them until January when the return period ends, if they haven't massively improved this so that it's on par with the Echos, these are going right back to the store.
D
Userlevel 1
Badge +2
I just purchased two Sonos One's and a Playbase. I am a first time Sonos user. So far, as all the posts above mentioned, very disappointed with getting Alexa to wake. I can be 3 feet away and my voice or my wife does not wake Alexa.

Seperately - not sure Playbase is that great. Since it only uses optical out, it looks like I have to purchase a hdmi switcher for it to work with my bluray and ATV4, since my TV optical would not work (Pioneer Elite 150) and I am going through the cable box. I like easy and so far none of this has been very simple.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Ryan, can you explain how a cloud update is going to fix the locally processed Alexa wake word? Also when is the fix being put in place? The request for an ETA seems to be being ignored.

Local processing is based on cloud data. Data and definitions from in cloud updates get pushed down to the players without the need for full Sonos player updates. The Sonos One needs to know what to listen for, and as the cloud definitions and audio data gets better, the microphones get better at pinpointing on the right sounds.

There isn't a specific timeline to share because updates are constantly being worked on and pushed to the cloud so that voice recognition can continue to improve and get better as we go.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
K
flaw that the Echo dot will not “stay connected” to Sonos the same way it does to a Bluetooth speaker. With “stay connected” I mean that it will not respond through the speaker and God forbid you forget to say “play music in the XX ROOM” it will just play music in the Echo.
Not a flaw: that is by a design that is different from how Dot + connected BT speakers work. The solution is to get a One, but at this time it does not seem to be a viable one with an unresolved Mic issue.

IMO, the Mic performance will never be as good as via a Dot that is placed some distance from a noise source, the speaker. Which is why the Dot does better than even the Echo and does not do so if placed next to any speaker it is delivering music to.

Which raises an interesting question: Does the One Mic perform better when the One itself is silent, and music is playing through other Sonos speakers?
K
In continuation to the above, a quote about Amazon devices:
"All three speakers have a seven-microphone array, meaning they should be equally good at picking up your voice commands from across the room.
However, Amazon recommends that the Echo Dot is placed at least three feet away from an external speaker, so that Alexa can hear the wake word and other requests."
Obviously, Amazon suggests what it does only for the Dot because it cannot do so for the other two, that have the same Mic array. Logically therefore, the Dot Mic should do better than the other two, if the Amazon recommendation is complied with or even improved. My experience with Dot and Echo confirms this; as does one reported problem with the clever Vaux speakers that combine a Dot+Wired speaker in one box that ends up looking a lot like a play 1, which is that voice commands have to be louder than what they have to be for a well placed separate Dot.
And this kind of placement recommended for the Dot isn't possible for the One as well, so its Mic has to pick up your voice over the sound that it is delivering. A much bigger challenge than it is for an arguably better equipped and well placed Dot with its 7 mics compared to 6 in the One.
0
same here. I can whisper to my echo dot (quite impressive to be honest how low i can talk to it_, but with sonos i have to scream. Really annoying. To add on that, Sonos has forced me to buy two sonos one to have stereo sound, but the voice control goes to only one of them which is frustrating. For instance, if i put a timer and then ask how much is left,most of the time the request is picked up by the other speaker that tells me there is no timer set. I ended up switching off the mic on one of the two but then why do i need to pay more for two ones? that's bad imo
K
Agreed. Along with enabling Sonos Skills in Alexa for India.:D
So I can put my three November bought "official" Dots to work.
J
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I have just bought my first Sonos product, a Sonos One, as a Christmas present. I agree we need some certainty on what and when?! Otherwise I will be a very short lived Sonos owner, as i don't want to give a defective product for Xmas...

I think Sonos need to take this seriously or lose customers, like me.
E
I've literally had my face sitting on the speaker and said "Alexa" and it was like I'd personally offend her by existing! Then when I do get a response, she is quiet as hell. Like do I owe you money or something? Why are you acting like that?
jgatie
mjgunn, you made some good points. However, how can the sensitivity change without a software update?

Mic sensitivity and accuracy is in the cloud and the Alexa implementation, which do not require a Sonos firmware update.
chicks
Wanted to post an update, I will say the situation has gotten better....sometimes. It definitely seems like it's being worked on, because at times I can actually speak relatively normally (still not as normally as I can with my regular Echos) and the One will pick it up. However other times I'll still be standing there "Alexa, Alexa, ALEXA" in a quiet room from a close distance. I'm not sure if the inconsistency is an improvement or not, but at least it's good to see signs of something happening.

However a new concern (for me at least, I'm sure others have noticed), the TV in the room where the One is isn't used often, but a few weeks ago my wife and I binged some TV one night, and I was hearing the One beeping with false positives several times an hour all night long. The One is probably 7-10 feet from the closest surround speaker in the room. Then last night I was on a facetime call with my iPad about 5 feet from the One, same thing, all conversation long the One was beeping and Alexa was going "hmm, I don't know about that". I finally just muted the mic until I was off the call.


Yes, the sensitivity does appear to have improved a bit, I may finally be able to disable the Dot. However, was listening to NPR on the One, and it triggered several times from its own speaker! Doesn’t appear to trigger on music, thankfully. Still have to yell “Alexa!” to trigger the One when it’s playing even at moderate levels. Sigh. I’m confident all this will be worked out over time, but wondering why Amazon didn’t share its Alexa tuning with Sonos.

Will we need to go through all this again for “OK Google!”?
D
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
mjgunn, you made some good points. However, how can the sensitivity change without a software update?

Mic sensitivity and accuracy is in the cloud and the Alexa implementation, which do not require a Sonos firmware update.I don't think sensitivity to the wake word is in the cloud: it's claimed that nothing is sent to the cloud until the wake word has been recognised.
Master T
Userlevel 6
Badge +9
I don't think sensitivity to the wake word is in the cloud: it's claimed that nothing is sent to the cloud until the wake word has been recognised.

Using that logic, one shouldn't be able to make any changes to the behavior of an Echo or Alexa-enabled device without a hardware or firmware update. Yet, on my Echo Dots for example, I can go to the app on my phone or alexa.amazon.com on my PC from anywhere in the world and change the wake word to "Echo" or "Computer." Those changes are made via the cloud and communicated to the Echo devices. Just because the Sonos One isn't communicating your verbal requests until after it hears the wake word, doesn't mean the device isn't communicating with the cloud otherwise.
P
I just got my Sonos ONE in the mail the other day and my HUE color lights for my room. It is amazing what I can do and I am a first-time Alexa user. Even I know I shouldnt be shouting at this device to hear me. I know Sonos, that you have been busy working on Spotify and numerous other issues so far, but this is crucial. Im very displeased that i cant turn my lights off in bed without waking up my child upstairs. I contemplated getting a wall mount to point the microphone in the direction of my bed but i may end up unplugging it in the middle of a "waking session". I mean no disrespect. I love the product. Make it hear me PLEASE!
J
I don't think sensitivity to the wake word is in the cloud: it's claimed that nothing is sent to the cloud until the wake word has been recognised.

Using that logic, one shouldn't be able to make any changes to the behavior of an Echo or Alexa-enabled device without a hardware or firmware update. Yet, on my Echo Dots for example, I can go to the app on my phone or alexa.amazon.com on my PC from anywhere in the world and change the wake word to "Echo" or "Computer." Those changes are made via the cloud and communicated to the Echo devices. Just because the Sonos One isn't communicating your verbal requests until after it hears the wake word, doesn't mean the device isn't communicating with the cloud otherwise.

I don't quite follow your logic. The wake word has to be processed on the Alexa-enabled device, not the cloud, otherwise a constant stream would need to be sent to the cloud to determine when the wake word was uttered. Changing the wake word in the app to "computer" just sends an update to the configuration of the Alexa-enabled devices linked to the Amazon account so it listens for a different wave pattern.

Anyway, I'd also like to voice my disappointment with the Alexa microphone sensitivity in the One. One of the most impressive things about the Echo-Dot was it's ability to pick out a voice accurately in a noisy room. The One just doesn't compare here sadly. It quickly gets tiresome shouting "Alexa" three times just to change the volume or set a timer. The sound quality is amazing though but I do think I should have just got a Play:1 and kept the Dot.
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