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Microphone sensitivity for the “Alexa” wake word is low

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262 replies

K
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.
chicks
Tested vs a Dot. When i say "Alexa" in a normal voice, Dot will always trigger, from 15' across the room, while I'm facing the One from 3' away, which doesn't. Have to raise my voice, usually until I'm shouting, unless I'm within a foot of the One. Seriously deficient, hard to understand how it was released like this.
S
I did some follow up testing. I placed my Echo Dot next to my Sonos One and went into the other room about ten feet away. With my back to the Dot I was able to speak in a normal voice and control it. I then switched to the Sonos One and standing in the same location and facing the same direction I was unable to get Alexa to respond even when yelling. I pretty much have to be a few feet away facing the speaker for it to hear me. I'm curious how the microphone layout in the One compares to the Echo. I know that it's being said that this is a software issue, but I still wonder....

We appreciate the input everyone, and we’ve received the feedback on voice recognition sensitivity with Sonos One. The team is hard at work making cloud software updates to improve the experience, and will continue to make additional updates as needed.

When, Ryan, when is this going to be solved? A week, a month, a year? Just saying it will be better somewhere in the future is not good enough.
D
Userlevel 1
We appreciate the input everyone, and we’ve received the feedback on voice recognition sensitivity with Sonos One. The team is hard at work making cloud software updates to improve the experience, and will continue to make additional updates as needed.

When, Ryan, when is this going to be solved? A week, a month, a year? Just saying it will be better somewhere in the future is not good enough.
L
Same here. The mic doesn’t work most of the time. If you have to repeat you command 3 times, it is close to useless.
S
Userlevel 1
I'd like to "echo" what has been said here. This product has potential to be great but poor support will let it down , come on Sonos, get this sorted quickly!
G
It took me ages to to get the wife to agree to get the Sonos. the amount of flak I've taken since getting it is not worth the hassle. telling everyone that you are getting the best speaker out there and with Alexa to boot which then turns into a new sport of the wife showing all her friends just how useless me and Alexa are is not much fun. If you can't get the shouting issue sorted can I suggest you get Alexa to understand swear words instead ? let me know if you need help with the words as I am fast becoming an expert !!!!!!
N
Terrible experience, my sonos one is on my bedside table and it still doesn't respond unless I shout! sometimes it says it's playing something and nothing happens? Also won't turn on other sonos speakers....This might just be going back!
M
+1 same issue here - i think is very bad that Sonos has not yet fixed this.
T
Badge
having the problem here and i muted the One's mic function and switch back to my echo dot for voice commands.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
We appreciate the input everyone, and we’ve received the feedback on voice recognition sensitivity with Sonos One. The team is hard at work making cloud software updates to improve the experience, and will continue to make additional updates as needed.

The Sonos One is a smart speaker, and as with all of Sonos, is designed to get better over time.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
S
Alexa is still horrible on my Sonos One. With my kids constantly trying to invoke Alexa and it not picking up their voices consistently or mine for that matter I’ve disabled Alexa in the Sonos and am now using my Echo Dot to control Sonos.
D
Userlevel 1
Today I tested with a second Sonos One. The problem with the recognition of the wake word is exactly the same.
So I do not have a bad device, but they are all the same.
However, the sound with two Sonos One is nice.
M

Though the microphones work great in the majority of homes and setups, we're at that point where we're collecting more and more samples and fine-tuning the microphones.

I wonder, though, if your analytics will capture the dozens of times that “Alexa!” fails to trigger? I find myself having to shout up to three times to finally trigger a response from the One, while speaking in a normal voice would ALWAYS trigger the Echo, which was placed in exactly the same location. This is a serious issue, which needs to be resolved.
C
Userlevel 3
Just to add to this - when I first received my Sonos One in October I was relatively happy with it and was going to live with its limitations, giving time to Sonos to improve its software and features over time. I, in fact, posted on another thread singing the praises of the Alexa integration But after living with it for a couple of weeks now, it appears I spoke too soon, it is driving me and my family crazy. My wife is just about ready to throw the thing through the window.
We have to ask it about 5 or 6 times before it responds to 'Alexa' - either we get louder or closer. The echos we have do not have this issue. It just will not respond to the wake word consistently.
On the other hand, it makes that god-awful wake up ding sound ALL THE TIME to other words, if we are talking in the kitchen where it is placed - 6 or 7 times within about 10 minutes last night. Among the phrases that woke it up were 'next to', 'complex', 'Leicester', and most surprising of all 'Crispy'! I have tried all these phrases on the dots we have and nothing!
There appears to be something very wrong with either the mics or the software or both with respect to the wake word.
It is most definitely not a good advert for Sonos to our friends that come round - being constantly interrupted with a DING! whilst trying to chat is very frustrating for everyone.
I would suggest that Sonos allow us to set another wake word or let us turn that awful 'I'm awake' sound off. Both features are customizable in the echos/dots.
I will be keeping the One only because we wanted another Sonos in the dining room, so moved the original kitchen play 1 there. But we will be turning off the mic, at least when we are eating in there (which kind of negates the purpose of the Alexa integration)
But I am returning the two Sonos One's I bought as Christmas presents for my daughters - we believed it was a neater solution than just getting them dots to go with their current Play 1's - but we will be going back to the original plan of dots.
Maybe in a years time, things will have improved
M
Just purchased a sonos one and I may have to return it, the microphone seems very very poor. The previous comment says this is a software issue, if so it really does need an urgent fix, having to shout at the speaker from about 50cm kind of defeats the point! My experience; I have the sonos one in my dining room with no ambient noise and standing a couple of metres away with a raised voice it doesn’t respond, but the echo dot in the next room (with the TV on) does.. Overall sounds great better than the Echos but voice activation is poorer and responses slower
M
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.
D
Userlevel 1
I always hear this effect when my girlfriend tries to wake alexa. Thinking about making a video of it. Almost funny if it wasn't so annoying...
B
Does anyone else find that their voice tone when trying to get Alexa to wake up changes in the same way as when trying to engage their grumpy children in conversation? Attempt 1 - 'Alexa', Attempt 6 - 'ALEXXXXAAAA' (only to find the microphones are turned off).
D
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
Did anybody really test with two Sonos One devices, weather this issue is HW dependent? Is it better or worse with one or the other Sonos One device? Or is it always the same with all Sonos One devices?
I've got 3 Sonos Ones and they all have the problem detecting the wake word compared with my Echos and Dots.
D
Userlevel 1
Did anybody really test with two Sonos One devices, weather this issue is HW dependent? Is it better or worse with one or the other Sonos One device? Or is it always the same with all Sonos One devices?
P
Userlevel 1
The Sonos One is my first Sonos product and I'm really disappointed with this issue. After having it a while, it's become so annoying to have to yell to get Alexa to respond. Heck, with my Dot I could almost whisper so as not to wake people up and it would respond. Not liking the "it'll get better over time" and not in a fix. Sounds like nothing's going to be fixed so I've stopped recommending these. Maybe next generation will be better.
K
So it isn't for having to overcome the music playing from the same area as where the mics are located. I asked because I remember reading that the Dot does a little better than the Echo for this reason.
D
Is there any change in sensitivity with music playing v silent? As in does it start easier from silent?

Seems to be the same. I find myself yelling at it.
K
Is there any change in sensitivity with music playing v silent? As in does it start easier from silent?
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