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Microphone sensitivity for the “Alexa” wake word is low

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U
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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!
D
Looking forward to fix on this as I'm getting tired of shouting at my Sonos one to get Alexa to wake up... and I've only had it a couple of days! It's a disappointing user experience, especially when I could have picked up a Play one + Dot for less money and it appears I would be in a better position.
D
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.
D
Userlevel 1
The team has received your feedback on voice recognition sensitivity with Sonos One, and we’re already making cloud software updates to improve the experience. We appreciate the input and will continue to make additional updates as we go. The microphones tuning and understanding will continue to get better, as will other features.

We've just recently adding Spotify support and Flash Briefings to the Sonos One, and there's more to come.

One question to this: isn't the recognition of the wake word done locally in the device? How can an update in the cloud help here?

I am wondering if You maybe misunderstood the problem? It is not about voice recognition in general, but especially about recognition of the wake word. And according to my understanding this is done in the device. So an update in the cloud could not help. Update of the device software would be necessary.
Ryan, could You please comment on this? Am I wrong?
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
The team has received your feedback on voice recognition sensitivity with Sonos One, and we’re already making cloud software updates to improve the experience. We appreciate the input and will continue to make additional updates as we go. The microphones tuning and understanding will continue to get better, as will other features.

We've just recently adding Spotify support and Flash Briefings to the Sonos One, and there's more to come.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
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!
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.
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
Just going to chime in here. I recently set up a Sonos One speaker and I'm having the same issue with mic sensitivity compared to my Echo Dot. Hopefully this is updated soon.
chicks
I’m sure they’ve been busy getting Spotify and Flash Briefing working. Now that those are working, let’s hope that this issue has risen to the top of the Alexa integration list. Really is annoying having to shout so loud at the One that the Dots in other rooms wake!

Ryan, I hope the team is aware that this is a real issue. Not sure all the shouting “Alexa!” before it finally triggers is being captured in your data...
V
SONOS - where are you? Can you provide us with any feedback on what are you doing to resolve this. In its current state, the product is not fit for purpose for voice recognition. I will be out of my return window soon as I would prefer to avoid the hassle of returning my 4 Sonos One back if someone can confirm that an update is coming to resolve this.
K
I’m have lost all hope this this released Sonos One. Very concerned now the bad name Sonos is getting my many investments into my house full of speaker will be a total loss in value. I will look at returning my 2 new play ones. Will be calling to return Monday. I may start dumping others as well. Had a house full of family and Alexa just would not do like always what I had to yell at her from 5 feet away. I was part of the preorder. I was confident it was going to be get to remove my echos and convert my play1s to ones. I just got a couple couple google homes and based on reviews I may just remove all the Alexa’s also from my house.
D
Userlevel 1
Is sonos still working on the topic or did You give up?
J
Same problems with Alexa wake word sensitivity, I thought it was a fault with the hardware, shouting Alexa 3 to 4 times then moving within 1 inch of the speaker to repeat, was not part of the deal, returning if not fixed in the next 90 days.
L
Just received my Sonos One today, and I agree that it is much less sensitive to my commands than my other Echo devices.

I saw a reply in this thread from Sonos mentioning that the sensitivity is controlled by software. It would be helpful to hear from Sonos regarding any kind of status on the fix/update. Thanks!

Also, great work on the update to support voice controls for Spotify, Sonos team!
F
I honestly don’t think this is just microphone sensitivity issue.

I have the same problems and have more success if I raise my voice to say Alexa (often with the Dot in the bedroom responding!).

But I also have a lot of weird beeps throughout the day from both of my the Sonos One as if it heard Alexa while I am talking or while the TV plays. Basically, the Sonos One is getting a lot of false positives. I check my Alexa logs and there are about a dozen recordings of it listening and misunderstanding no one said “Alexa”. It’s a complaint on several threads.

I suspect turning up mic gain on the Sonos is easy for a developer. A change could be made in under a day for that. The problem is that now it hears more background noise and errant sounds... and very likely now cause a lot more people to hear freaky recording beeps.

I suspect the Sonos algorithm to phonetically detect the ALEXA keyword is not as advanced or fleshed out as Amazon’s.
S
Userlevel 1
I got an update today. Seems to have improved the sensitivty. Still not perfect but defintitely better.
J
Sensitivity to wake word is also my only, but huge disappointment. I hope to hear some news on an update, as it gets a little more irritating each day. I may ultimately return it to Amazon.
nicka99
Userlevel 7
Badge +17
unless they have the identical mic hardware as an echo I dont think it can be linked to software alone so am also wary of these statements. Im holding off my purchase until the feedback from the many sources that have commented on this issue (press reviews, amazon reviews, this forum) tell of an improved situation.
D
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
I can't believe it's going to be a software fix either. To give you more time you could return it to Amazon as it's defective and buy another one from Sonos to get the 100 day return window.

Same problem here, unless I use my John Lovitz Master Thespian voice. So incredibly bummed, I was SO stoked for how streamlined my Alexa/Sonos experience was going to be, but now...it's just terrible. And for some reason, I'm a bit wary of Ryan's "it's gonna be a software fix" assurances. I only have a few weeks to return this since I purchased it on Amazon, and boy, is my wife gonna laugh at me if I'm forced to do so. -sigh- Kinda wish Amazon had just really upped their sound quality game with the most recent releases.
M
Same problem here, unless I use my John Lovitz Master Thespian voice. So incredibly bummed, I was SO stoked for how streamlined my Alexa/Sonos experience was going to be, but now...it's just terrible. And for some reason, I'm a bit wary of Ryan's "it's gonna be a software fix" assurances. I only have a few weeks to return this since I purchased it on Amazon, and boy, is my wife gonna laugh at me if I'm forced to do so. -sigh- Kinda wish Amazon had just really upped their sound quality game with the most recent releases.
S
While using the Dot does work much better, the main reason I purchased the Sonos One was so music would default to playing on my Sonos when using Alexa. I have a child and he and his friends are always asking Alexa to play music. With the Dot you can't configure music to play out of the Sonos by default, you have to specify which Sonos speaker you want the music to play on. Trying to get kids to remember to do that is a never ending battle. It always results in music being played on the Dot itself. It would be great to be able to select the Sonos speakers to be the primary speakers until they resolve the microphone issue.

No experience of the One, but I am very impressed by just how well Dot - or even Echo - does this even in a room that isn't a very quiet one. With some complaining about over sensitivity, this seems like a bit of a challenge for Sonos. One consolation for buyers is having paid just what was the price of the play 1 till the One release and the easy cure of this issue by adding a Dot.
AjTrek1
Userlevel 7
I have lived with the Sonos One since release date. In fact I have two in stereo pair. My observations thus far....

1. No difficulty with the Sonos One and Alexa picking up my voice when in the same room. Full disclosure they are in my bedroom which is much smaller in size than other rooms in the house. Also, there is no ambient noise to cause interference.

2. I can direct the Sonos One to play music (streaming Amazon Music or Sirius XM) in any room without it playing in the bedroom. Likewise I can stream Amazon Music to one room and Sirius XM to the bedroom simultaneously.

3. When I first setup the Sonos One I had difficulty getting it to control my Hue lights. So introduced my Echo Dot which for some reason made everything work. I also changed the wake command on the Echo Dot to Amazon. Everything still worked as I could play music through the Sonos One and control the lights. Now B4 you call me an idiot...I did correct the setup to be able to use the Sonos One's to control my Hue lights without the Echo Dot. In fact the Dot isn't on line.

Reference 3 above...Although, I can't prove or disprove my theory I think the Sonos One needs to be setup properly so that no Echo product is required to make it work. If the Sonos One and an Echo product are in the same room (with Alexa as the wake command for both) the Echo product maybe overriding the Sonos One. As I said I can't prove or disprove my theory but it's worth a try if you are using both in the same room or using an Echo product as a go-between to control one of the Sonos One Alexa skills.
Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
C
Just got the Sonos one after enjoying experience with Dot. I can't believe how terrible the experience is with Sonos. I've been so pleased with their products in the past (own several Ones w/o Alexa, Playbar, and Sub) and this is the first disappoint. So bad in fact, that it isn't worth keeping...
V
Same issue here. extremely annoying. And Sonos saying this will get better in time is just not good enough. Can Sonos explain how this is linked to cloud in any way. I think this is to do with mic sensitivity.
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