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How can I turn off a Sonos audio message about voice control?  Whenever I pause and then unpause my Era 100 speakers, I get a Sonos audio message about using voice control; and I want to delete that or turn it off.  After hearing the message several dozen times, I’m ready to delete it

Hi @mapk 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

What audio message do you get, exactly? When I pause or un-pause my Era 300 with a Sonos Voice command, I only hear a “ding” notification sound.

If you get some sort of voice message, does rebooting the speaker by unplugging from power for a moment help? If not, please try removing Sonos Voice Control from your speaker and adding it again:

  • Settings » Services & Voice » Sonos Voice Control » oroom name(s)] » Remove Sonos Voice Control
  • then Settings » Services & Voice » Sonos Voice Control » Add to Another Product
  • or Settings » Services & Voice » Add a Voice Assistant » Sonos Voice Control

I hope this helps.


Hi Corry P

  • The message I get is a 30 second message that begins “Hands free is now worry free thanks to Sonos Voice Control available with any...”, and then goes on for the rest of a 30 sec message.
  • I think I just solved the issue.  I just noticed that this message may only come when I use a radio station thru Sonos Radio.  The radio station is KQED.  There are two choices under Sonos Radio: “KQED” and “KQED-FM”.  I had the message problem when connecting to Sonos Radio KQED.  I switched to Sonos Radio KQED-FM and currently I am not getting the 30 second voice message.  I am not going to retry the KQED station version and hope that sticking with the KQED-FM station version has resolved the issue.

Thank you for your quick response.  It is good to know there is support out there.  I am getting familiar with the Sonos system and I think I am going to love it

best,

mapk


Hi @mapk 

That is strange. I was unable to reproduce this in my own testing - I just got an “Okay” the first time, and a “Fantastic” the second time. The app did report it was playing KQED-FM, however, despite me only asking for “KQED”, so that may be why. I did get an ad for a mobile phone operator before hearing the station broadcast, but that clearly isn’t what you were hearing. When searching in the app, however, I only see KQED-FM - perhaps because I am in the UK.

I’m glad to hear that you are now no longer hearing that message, but you never should have so I’ll see what more testing I (and others) can do.


Hi Corey,

I have confirmed it is the station app.  As I noted earlier, I find two choices for KQED radio station under Sonos Radio in the mobile ap: one noted as “KQED” which I now note is associated with an iHeart Radio app; and another noted as “KQED FM” which I note is associated with TuneIn Radio app.  The KQED station via iHeart is consistently starting with a 30 sec message that begins “Hands free is now worry free thanks to Sonos Voice Control available with any...”.  The KQED FM station via TuneIn Radio does not lead with such a message

Anyways, as you wrote, it’s pretty strange.  I’m just glad I figured out how to avoid the message since I listen to KQED almost every day and it would have driven me bonkers.

Hopefully no one else encounters the same issue; or if they do, they can get to the same solution that I came across

best to you,

Michael


Hi @mapk 

Thank you for that additional and very useful info - I am unable to test this myself as iHeart Radio is not available over here.

If it is not too much trouble, would you mind recording a short video demonstrating this issue, then getting in touch with your local technical support team and forwarding the video to them? They are better situated to look into this for you.

Thanks.


Hey Corey,

Nice suggestion.  I’m not quite sure how I share a video via the link you gave me to a phone support number and a chat line; but I’ll make a video, start a chat and see where that gets me to.   I’m impressed with your level of support and communication and if this is typical of Sonos support, I want to chip into resolving the issue

best

Michael


Hi @mapk 

There are several ways to get a video to the team - if it is small enough (and 4K won’t be needed here 😁) you can email it in a reply to an email from the team (you can ask them to send something just so you can reply), or you could instead upload to YouTube or to a service like Google Drive or Dropbox where files can be shared publicly.

And thank you!

I hope this helps.


I have the same very annoying situation. When I use the app to change a radio station I get that same my Sonos speaker plays that same message about Sonos hands free being available etc.  I’m already using the voice control on occasion to increase volume for instance and I also get that same message.  I’ve unplugged the speaker as suggested above and done the other steps also but it hasn’t resolved the problem.  The sound quality of the speaker is great but this is a deal breaking downside of the system.

 


Hi @AtholAve 

As mentioned by @mapk above, it seems this issue only occurs when playing from the iHeart music service - if you can find the same station on any other radio aggregator, I recommend you play it from there instead - at least for now.

I hope this helps.