Amazon Echo Club

I think Alexa is getting deaf like me. The last few nights I've had to repeat several simple commands before she finally carries them out. For example, "Alexa, Porch Light off." The blue ring on the Dot lights up and I think Alexa mutters something, but nothing happens. I'm always within 10 feet of the Dot when talking to Alexa. It is getting frustrating to have to repeat the commands before she finally gets it right. Maybe she is going through her teenage revolt years. She better start behaving though or she might get kicked out of the house!

ETA: I always make sure there is no other talking going on before giving a command to Alexa. That is, I mute the TV or whatever audio source that is on. It doesn't take much to confuse her.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I think Alexa is getting deaf like me. The last few nights I've had to repeat several simple commands before she finally carries them out. For example, "Alexa, Porch Light off." The blue ring on the Dot lights up and I think Alexa mutters something, but nothing happens. I'm always within 10 feet of the Dot when talking to Alexa. It is getting frustrating to have to repeat the commands before she finally gets it right. Maybe she is going through her teenage revolt years. She better start behaving though or she might get kicked out of the house!

ETA: I always make sure there is no other talking going on before giving a command to Alexa. That is, I mute the TV or whatever audio source that is on. It doesn't take much to confuse her.

Strange. I've had something similar start happening--I ask Alexa for the weather, and the Dot lights up, so it "hears" me, but then I get nothing, not even a "don't understand" response. Had to try three times today before I got the weather report.

Originally Posted by Catlady

Strange. I've had something similar start happening--I ask Alexa for the weather, and the Dot lights up, so it "hears" me, but then I get nothing, not even a "don't understand" response. Had to try three times today before I got the weather report.

I'm not sure she is saying anything as I'm several feet away. It might be like when something on the TV/radio makes her wake up but then she doesn't say anything. It is getting really annoying. I find myself raising my voice and getting mad at her, even though she is just a device. I got updates a few days ago to my Dot and Echo, so something must have changed in their FW that is causing them to act up.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Strange. I've had something similar start happening--I ask Alexa for the weather, and the Dot lights up, so it "hears" me, but then I get nothing, not even a "don't understand" response. Had to try three times today before I got the weather report.

That happens to me since I got mine. I was an early adopter. She 25% hears something right.

Sent from my XT1528

[WT Sharpe]

I was an early adopter also, and my Echo (and also my Tap) usually get things right. My only problem is in getting her to understand things such as when I say, "Add Pup-Peroni to the shopping list" I don't mean pepperoni.

[ApK]

Our echo had been behaving oddly recently too. After the recent update, we had to unplug it to get it to behave. Its still doing some odd things, though.

[tubemonkey]

Amazon is helping to remove false wake words from Alexa’s vocabulary

This new feature applies to third-party devices.

Amazon is already using this feature for its own devices

Amazon’s smart assistant has gotten pretty good at recognizing its own name (much to the apparent chagrin of many who share it), but that doesn’t make it immune from false positives. To make Alexa better at filtering out similar words, Amazon is today introducing a new feature called Cloud-Based Wake Word Verification for third-party manufacturers who have Alexa built into their devices.

This will make their devices more reliable – and more competitive with Amazon’s own Echo product line, which currently uses a similar system to avoid false positives.

The new feature utilizes a sort of two-factor voice identification system. The first step is the same as before, with the hardware (Echo, Echo Dot, etc.) handling the initial detection. After that, however, the word will pass through a secondary verification via a cloud-based process checks for a false positive. If one is detected, Wake Word Verification will direct the hardware to close the audio streaming.

[wodin]

There is a fine balance between false positives and Alexa being deaf. I think I'd prefer a few more false positives.

I agree, when she had a lot of false awakenings she seemed to hear pretty well. Now that the false awakenings are much fewer, she is so deaf I'm not sure she could hear a stick of dynamite go off. I'm really frustrated with Bezo's Bozos. They seem to be the rejects from Silicon Valley. Personally I find it is just as quick, and less of a hassle, to pull out my iPhone and control my smart home devices from it, rather than have to shout and argue with Alexa.

[tubemonkey]

I couldn't understand much of what that little munchkin was saying, although his voice was very loud, so I'm not surprised Alexa stumbled all over that. Pretty funny though.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I couldn't understand much of what that little munchkin was saying, although his voice was very loud, so I'm not surprised Alexa stumbled all over that. Pretty funny though.

Considering the way Alexa butchers things, we may as well be toddlers doin' the askin'

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Considering the way Alexa butchers things, we may as well be toddlers doin' the askin'

Google doesn't always hear so well either.
I got nauseous nipples for noshes, nibbles.

[wodin]

Someone added "gallon books" to my shopping list, I've no idea what that means.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by wodin

Someone added "gallon books" to my shopping list, I've no idea what that means.

Can't you use the app to play back the actual recorded snippet to hear what was said?