Alexa Noises And What They Mean?

Alexa Noises And What They Mean
Check if Notifications are on – Some audio mishaps are due to an abuse of the notification system. If Alexa is constantly getting alerts about minor information like shipping and discounts, A simple reset can do wonders for preventing offers and other minor information from overflooding Alexa.

What kind of noise does your Alexa make?

Types of Random Noises From Amazon Echo – Alexa Noises And What They Mean My white Echo Dot 2nd gen making a random noise. From my own experience of owning an Echo and speaking to others (along with scouring the internet), some of the weird noises that Alexa randomly seems to make includes:

A “creepy laugh”, which some people have said is “evil” sounding – not what you want to hear at three in the morning!
Static or feedback type noises, just like old radios and TVs would make back in the day.
A “beep”/”boop” sound now and then.
Alexa “whistling”!
A “ringing” sound (like a phone call is being received, even though no call is setup).
A chiming sound.
A train sound, described by /u/mitalis on Reddit as a “magic effect backwards”! There’s even a YouTube video capturing this odd noise – which is still unexplained to this day.

Phew, that’s quite a long list of random – and sometimes creepy – sounds! Let’s take a look at some of the most common reasons for them playing – and crucially, how to stop them!

Why does my Alexa keep beeping?

Alexa Noises And What They Mean Does your Alexa device sometimes make odd, unexplainable beeping noises? You’re not alone! Some Alexa users report hearing beeping coming from their device with no obvious cause. Why does Alexa make a beeping noise? Some possible reasons for this are:

The device mistook a noise or voice in the background for its wake-up word. It’s in brief mode. You are receiving notifications, messages, or calls through your device. The volume settings are being adjusted. The Do Not Disturb function is being toggled on or off. The device’s battery is low. Alexa is having trouble connecting to Wi-Fi.

Below are some further explanations as to why these behaviors could be happening with your Alexa, and specific troubleshooting solutions to help you stop Alexa from beeping.

Why does Alexa say audio was not intended for this device?

Check Alexa Voice Recording History (Yep It’s All Recorded!) – Next up, there are two really useful parts of the Amazon Alexa app that you should check. The first is a full list of every single recorded thing you have said to Alexa or that it thinks you said to her,

Creepiness aside, this is great for diagnosing weird noises – perhaps Alexa just misheard you (or your TV). Heck, maybe your dog’s yawn sounds like “Alexa” and sets her off! To do this, launch the app and click the menu in the top left. Select “Settings”, then “Alexa Privacy”, before finally clicking “Review Voice History”.

You will see something like this: Alexa Noises And What They Mean Alexa’s voice history (captured from an Echo Dot) – including some mis-hearings! In this case, Alexa has misheard a song request (thinking that we asked for the massive hit song ” Rose between a thongs “!). Whilst this wouldn’t cause a weird noise in itself, your own voice history could well shed some light on the random noises, Alexa Noises And What They Mean Alexa’s voice history (from an Echo Dot) – including what Alexa ‘heard’ but decided wasn’t intended for it. Alexa saying ” Audio was not intended for this device ” is actually a key bit of information. It’s saying that Alexa heard its name – or thinks that it did – but that it decided it didn’t need to carry out an action or reply.

Why is my Echo making weird noises?

Alexa Still Making Random Noises? 8 Other Points to Check – Alexa Noises And What They Mean Me looking at an Echo Dot scared The five things explored above contribute to the majority of the random noises that Amazon Echo owners hear, but if you’re still hearing random noises then check out the list below for extra things to check:

Check if you have any Skills installed, These are third-party add-ons that you can enable on Alexa. Most are harmless and are only activated when you say specific wakeup commands, but a stray skill could be the culprit. Say ” Alexa, what skills do I have enabled? ” to hear what skills you have, and then say ” Alexa, disable ” to uninstall/disable a skill.
When you hear an unexpected noise, check the color of the light ring, Cnet’s guide walks you through what each mean, but a pulsing yellow light (meaning you have a notification) and violet or orange colors tend to mean possible Wi-Fi/network issues – both of which will cause a sound to play.
If you’re hearing a popping/crackling type noise – i.e. one that sounds dangerous (even if it’s not!) and not natural – then this could be a genuine defect in your Echo device (such as a loose power/speaker cable internally). Or, it might be an issue with the socket outlet or the power cable. Check that the wall socket works fine with other electrical devices, then check that the Echo power cable is fully plugged in. Then try restarting the device (by unplugging and plugging in the device) and see if the issue continues. If it does, consider contacting Amazon customer services.
There’s always the chance that this random sound was caused by a genuine software bug with Amazon’s computer code, In 2018, Echo’s worldwide started playing a “creepy laughter” sound – which was caused by Alexa mistakenly thinking it heard the command ” Alexa, laugh “. Amazon fixed this particular issue, but there’s always the chance that a new ‘random noise’ gets introduced. In this case, do some Google of your weird sound and if lots of other people have heard it recently, hopefully it’s a temporary (albeit annoying!) glitch.
Speakers of any kind can pick up on external interference, with radio signals being the most common. This is most common in speakers with a long run of audio cable (more cable = more chance of interference being picked up), but even a slightly loose connection in the internal speaker(s) of your Echo device could potentially result in radio interference being picked up, A Redditor heard whistling, and then someone clearing their throat, from their Echo. Whilst creepy, this seems like a prime example of radio interference. Just like #3, this might also be a device defect which you should contact customer services about.
If you’re still not having any luck, doing a factory reset of your Echo might be a good idea. Each Echo device is different, but Amazon has detailed help pages for resetting each echo they sell so it’s worth starting there. It’s worth noting that a system reset will help with any local Echo settings, but anything controlled by the app – including ‘Brief Mode’ (covered earlier) – will not be reset.
Finally, if nothing else works, get a hammer and hit your Echo repeatedly contact Amazon customer support. Explain the steps you have taken, and ask whether you have a faulty device that needs replacing, Amazon support can be a little cumbersome at times (as they sometimes have checklists they need to go through), but they are very good at replacing their own products.
If even that step doesn’t work, Amazon’s Echos are frequently on sale and whilst the 4th Gen Echo Dot is only recently released (and thus at a higher price most of the time), the 3rd Gen Echo Dot is very cheap to buy as a replacement for your existing Echo device.

Why does Alexa say audio was not intended for this device?

Creepiness aside, this is great for diagnosing weird noises – perhaps Alexa just misheard you (or your TV).
Heck, maybe your dog’s yawn sounds like “Alexa” and sets her off! To do this, launch the app and click the menu in the top left.
Select “Settings”, then “Alexa Privacy”, before finally clicking “Review Voice History”.

What does an Alexa sound like at 3am?

A “creepy laugh”, which some people have said is “evil” sounding – not what you want to hear at three in the morning!
Static or feedback type noises, just like old radios and TVs would make back in the day.
A “beep”/”boop” sound now and then.
Alexa “whistling”!
A “ringing” sound (like a phone call is being received, even though no call is setup).
A chiming sound.
A train sound, described by /u/mitalis on Reddit as a “magic effect backwards”! There’s even a YouTube video capturing this odd noise – which is still unexplained to this day.

Phew, that’s quite a long list of random – and sometimes creepy – sounds! Let’s take a look at some of the most common reasons for them playing – and crucially, how to stop them!

Why is my Echo making weird noises?

Check if you have any Skills installed, These are third-party add-ons that you can enable on Alexa. Most are harmless and are only activated when you say specific wakeup commands, but a stray skill could be the culprit. Say ” Alexa, what skills do I have enabled? ” to hear what skills you have, and then say ” Alexa, disable ” to uninstall/disable a skill.
When you hear an unexpected noise, check the color of the light ring, Cnet’s guide walks you through what each mean, but a pulsing yellow light (meaning you have a notification) and violet or orange colors tend to mean possible Wi-Fi/network issues – both of which will cause a sound to play.
If you’re hearing a popping/crackling type noise – i.e. one that sounds dangerous (even if it’s not!) and not natural – then this could be a genuine defect in your Echo device (such as a loose power/speaker cable internally). Or, it might be an issue with the socket outlet or the power cable. Check that the wall socket works fine with other electrical devices, then check that the Echo power cable is fully plugged in. Then try restarting the device (by unplugging and plugging in the device) and see if the issue continues. If it does, consider contacting Amazon customer services.
There’s always the chance that this random sound was caused by a genuine software bug with Amazon’s computer code, In 2018, Echo’s worldwide started playing a “creepy laughter” sound – which was caused by Alexa mistakenly thinking it heard the command ” Alexa, laugh “. Amazon fixed this particular issue, but there’s always the chance that a new ‘random noise’ gets introduced. In this case, do some Google of your weird sound and if lots of other people have heard it recently, hopefully it’s a temporary (albeit annoying!) glitch.
Speakers of any kind can pick up on external interference, with radio signals being the most common. This is most common in speakers with a long run of audio cable (more cable = more chance of interference being picked up), but even a slightly loose connection in the internal speaker(s) of your Echo device could potentially result in radio interference being picked up, A Redditor heard whistling, and then someone clearing their throat, from their Echo. Whilst creepy, this seems like a prime example of radio interference. Just like #3, this might also be a device defect which you should contact customer services about.
If you’re still not having any luck, doing a factory reset of your Echo might be a good idea. Each Echo device is different, but Amazon has detailed help pages for resetting each echo they sell so it’s worth starting there. It’s worth noting that a system reset will help with any local Echo settings, but anything controlled by the app – including ‘Brief Mode’ (covered earlier) – will not be reset.
Finally, if nothing else works, get a hammer and hit your Echo repeatedly contact Amazon customer support. Explain the steps you have taken, and ask whether you have a faulty device that needs replacing, Amazon support can be a little cumbersome at times (as they sometimes have checklists they need to go through), but they are very good at replacing their own products.
If even that step doesn’t work, Amazon’s Echos are frequently on sale and whilst the 4th Gen Echo Dot is only recently released (and thus at a higher price most of the time), the 3rd Gen Echo Dot is very cheap to buy as a replacement for your existing Echo device.