What do you do if your Amazon Alexa is always responding to the TV? How can you stop Alexa from responding to the TV?
Modern technology is wonderful, plain and simple. It can do so much with so little effort, virtual assistants included. Still, for all their smarts, they are not smart enough to understand subtle differences. This particularly holds true for distinguishing real life from stuff heard on TV and other media. If your voice-powered device is anywhere near the TV and hears something that sounds like the wake word, chances are it will activate. The result is an unwanted activity that awakens the assistant-led device with a voice that is not the owners. There are loads of examples where TV commercials prompted the devices to act on the given commands, especially if the advertised product in question is the device itself. While most of these ads use altered audio (different wide-band signal) to reduce the chances of responding to the TV, these quirks can still happen.
As with the rest of the bunch, Alexa, Amazon’s intelligent personal assistant, is not immune to these mishaps. While they are mostly harmless, these accidental activations are still unnecessary nuisances. Luckily, Alexa has quite a few “defense” mechanisms that can avoid these situations. In that regard, we’ll list them all further down. If you want to know how to stop Alexa from responding to the TV and other media, here’s how.
Turn Alexa’s mic off
The simplest and most effective way to stop Alexa responding to the TV is to simply mute it. A no-brainer, right? Every Echo device and the majority of others has a physical button that turns off the microphone. While this certainly gets the job done, no frills, this is not quite handy as a permanent solution. You need to manually switch off your Alexa device’s microphone every time you’re watching something that might include commercials you can’t skip. Then, you have to remember to turn it back on when you’re done. As this is voice-powered line of devices we are talking about, they are designed to have an always-on mic listening for its wake word. Thus, the method somewhat defeats the purpose in this case. It’s easy to see how switching it on and off every once in awhile is not an ideal solution.
Change the Alexa wake word
Accidental activation is particularly worrisome when the device is in one of the more private parts of your home. Therefore, changing Alexa’s wake word is probably the best all-around solution, even with its shortcomings. In reality, you are only minimizing the chance of third-party activation. At the moment, there is no option to set the wake word to anything you want. Instead, you have the choice of three additional alternatives that are not ideal, but good enough as non-Alexa options. Head on to the Setting menu in the Alexa app and choose the device you want to manage. In the General section, select the Wake Word option and pick between “Amazon”, “Echo” or “Computer”, besides the default “Alexa” option. Slim pickings, but it’s better than no pickings at all.
As you can see, neither option is a surefire winner to stop Alexa responding to the TV. While “Computer”, for instance, is pretty awesome and the ultimate Star Trek fantasy, it’s not a good choice. People use it in everyday conversation, which means too many mentions. “Amazon” and “Echo” are only slightly better, with Echo probably the more desirable choice. Until Amazon allows custom wake words, you are stuck with this. It’s important to note that improving the wake word recognition is a part of Amazon’s efforts. The online retailer recently introduced a new feature called Cloud-Based Wake Word Verification for third-party manufacturers who have built Alexa into their devices. The aim is to make Alexa better at filtering out similar words through two-factor voice identification system and reduce false positives. Alexa’s response time will stay the same despite additional processing but the voice agent should have a better understanding and fewer unasked responses.
Work on Alexa’s understanding and positioning
While waiting for Amazon to fix this issue at its roots, there is something you can do to make the situation more bearable. Namely, you can improve Alexa’s voice recognition to become more attuned to your voice. Open the Alexa App and head on to Settings > Voice Training. You’ll get a series of 25 pre-selected phrases to read aloud. These will help the virtual assistant to get to know your voice a bit better. The training lasts only a few minutes with any other Amazon or Alexa-enabled device on hand. Furthermore, it links to your account, not a specific device. Thus, Alexa will be able to use this voice language learning on every device. Just be sure to use the same voice, accent, and intonation, as well as the usual talking distance when speaking to Alexa to help it better recognize your voice. Otherwise, you’re missing the point.
Another thing you can do is to position your Alexa device where there is the least noise. By default, Echo’s position should be at least at least 8” (20.3 cm) from the wall. If you have any noisy appliances like an air conditioning unit, dishwasher, stereo or, naturally, TV, move the Alexa-powered away from those to reduce the levels of background noise. By Amazon’s own accord, microwaves or baby monitors can also cause interference so have that in mind when looking for that sweet spot. This may require some trial and error, but it helps in the long run.
The need for Amazon Alexa improvements
With any piece of modern technology, especially software-wise, unexpected things are almost bound to happen. The tech is far too complex for everything to go smoothly and without hiccups. Just like every other voice assistant on the market, Alexa has its fair share of shortcomings. Among other things, Amazon’s virtual agent sometimes has trouble understanding everything we say. In particular, it often struggles to distinguish your own voice from that on the small screen.
In general, voice activation is one department where the need for improvements is evident on a daily basis. With voice-powered technology here to stay for good, Amazon would bode well to make some concerning effort regarding this issue. For instance, adding a feature to train Alexa to recognize a specific voice or allow custom wake words. Implementing these enhancements shouldn’t pose a problem as these are all available elsewhere. For instance, LG’s Hub robot permits wake word customization and even responds to several voices of different individuals. From Amazon’s standpoint, Cloud-Based Wake Word Verification is definitely a step in the right direction. However, until there is a more direct result, these tips will have to do. If your Alexa is prone to mistaking commands from a TV set as yours, try them out. You will definitely improve your virtual companion and get a better user experience along the way.