Microphone sensitivity for the “Alexa” wake word is low

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.

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!

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.

Is sonos still working on the topic or did You give up?

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.

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.

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...

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.

+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.

+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.