Why Doesn’T Alexa Respond To Alexa Commercials?
This Sunday’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams is expected to draw more than 100 million viewers, some of whom will have Alexa-enabled devices within range of their TV speakers. When Amazon’s new Alexa ad airs, and Forest Whitaker asks his Alexa-enabled electric toothbrush to play his podcast, how will we prevent viewers’ devices from mistakenly waking up? 
Related content In its collaboration with the NFL, AWS contributes cloud computing technology, machine learning services, business intelligence services — and, sometimes, the expertise of its scientists. With the Super Bowl ad — as with thousands of other media mentions of Alexa tracked by our team — we teach Alexa what individual recorded instances of her name sound like, so she will know to ignore them. Related content Audio watermarking is the process of adding a distinctive sound pattern — undetectable to the human ear — to an audio signal to make it identifiable to a computer. It’s one of the ways that video sites recognize copyrighted recordings that have been posted illegally.
- To identify a watermark, a computer usually converts a digital file into an audio signal, which it processes internally.
- Our approach to matching audio recordings is based on classic acoustic-fingerprinting algorithms like that of Haitsma and Kalker in their 2002 paper “A Highly Robust Audio Fingerprinting System”.
Such algorithms are designed to be robust to audio distortion and interference, such as those introduced by TV speakers, the home environment, and our microphones. To produce an acoustic fingerprint, we first derive a grid of log filter-bank energies (LFBEs) for the acoustic signal, which represent the amounts of energy in multiple overlapping frequency bands in a series of overlapping time windows.
The algorithm steps through the grid in two-by-two blocks and adds and subtracts the measurements in the grid cells in a standardized way. (Technically, it computes the 2-D gradient of each block.) The sign of the result — positive or negative — provides a one-bit summary of the values in the block. The summaries of all the blocks in the grid constitute the acoustic fingerprint, and two fingerprints are deemed to match if the fraction of bits that are different (the “bit error rate”) is small enough.
An illustration of how fingerprints are used to match audio. Different instances of Alexa’s name result in a bit error rate of about 50% (random bit differences). A bit error rate significantly lower than 50% indicates two recordings of the same instance of Alexa’s name.
When we have audio samples in advance — as we do with the Super Bowl ad — we fingerprint the entire sample and store the result. With audio that’s streaming to the cloud from Alexa-enabled devices, we build up fingerprints piecemeal, repeatedly comparing them to other fingerprints as they grow. If a match is found, the incoming request is ignored.
Noisy audio may yield a match, but it requires the accumulation of more data (a larger fingerprint) than clean audio does. Using this matching algorithm, we have built a system with multiple layers to protect customers at multiple stages:
On-device : On most Echo devices, every time the wake word “Alexa” is detected, the audio is checked against a small set of known instances where Alexa is mentioned in commercials. Due to the limits of device CPU, this set is generally restricted to commercials we expect to be currently airing on TV.
In the cloud : Every audio request to Alexa that starts with a wake word is checked in two ways:
Known media : the audio is checked against a large set of fingerprints for known instances of “Alexa” and other wake words in commercials and other media. These fingerprints can also make use of the audio that follows the wake word. Unknown media : the audio is checked against a fraction of other Alexa requests arriving at around the same time. If the audio of a request matches that of requests from at least two other customers, we identify it as a media event. We also check incoming audio against a small cache of fingerprints discovered on the fly (the cached fingerprints are averages of the fingerprints that were declared matches). The cache allows Alexa to continue to ignore spurious wake words even when they no longer occur simultaneously.
Ideally, a device will identify media audio using locally stored fingerprints, so it does not wake up at all. If it does wake up, and we match the media event in the cloud, the device will quickly and quietly turn back off. In addition to tracking new media mentions of Alexa’s name and updating our library of fingerprints accordingly, our team works continuously to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the fingerprinting system.
What do you do when Alexa show won’t respond?
Restart your device first to see if it resolves the problem. Just unplug the power adapter from the device or the outlet and then plug it back in. Press and hold the Mute and Volume Down buttons until you see the Amazon logo (about 15 seconds). When prompted, follow the on-screen instructions to set up your device.
Why does my Alexa hear me but not respond?
If Alexa lights up but won’t respond, the most common reason is that it didn’t understand you, so repeat the command. It might also have ignored the command if it thought your request was intended for another nearby Alexa device. You can also check your Wi-Fi connection and network settings, or reset the Alexa device.
Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant that makes every Echo speaker and display a handy smart home appliance. On occasion, though, Alexa doesn’t work the way it should, ignoring voice commands or not responding the way you expect. More vexing, the device might seem to acknowledge you — the speaker’s status light comes on, but it doesn’t respond.
Does Amazon Alexa listen to you for ads?
We already knew that Alexa collects more data than any other smart assistant, but a new report reveals how Amazon uses our voice data to serve targeted ads, and how it shares the data with 41 different advertising partners. The research was carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Washington, UC Davis, UC Irvine, and Northeastern University, and is titled, ” Your Echos are Heard: Tracking, Profiling, and Ad Targeting in the Amazon Smart Speaker Ecosystem (Opens in a new window),” As The Verge reports (Opens in a new window), the research team created personas to interact with Alexa using a range of different third-party skills.
- It was then possible to use statistical analysis to confirm each persona was served targeted ads on both Amazon’s own platforms and the web.
- The research also revealed that the data being shared with Amazon’s advertising partners takes the form of processed transcriptions, not the raw audio data.
- Amazon isn’t denying this occurs, with spokesperson Lauren Raemhild telling The Verge: “Similar to what you’d experience if you made a purchase on Amazon.com or requested a song through Amazon Music, if you ask Alexa to order paper towels or to play a song on Amazon Music, the record of that purchase or song play may inform relevant ads shown on Amazon or other sites where Amazon places ads.” Raemhild also confirmed customers receive targeted ads on its smart speakers,
However, she makes it clear Amazon does not sell its customers’ personal information, and that, “Many of the conclusions in this research are based on inaccurate inferences or speculation by the authors, and do not accurately reflect how Alexa work.”
Why does Alexa speak without being asked?
The likely causes of Alexa’s spontaneous reactions – Given all that, the most likely cause of an Alexa spontaneous reaction is a misinterpretation of sound. Given how sensitive Alexa has to be to process wake words, sometimes Alexa will react to a sound (even one we might not hear or notice) and interpret that as a wake word.
Do devices listen to you for ads?
Why is my phone listening to me? – Foremost, our phones listen to us to virtually assist us. That’s through voice assistant apps, like Siri and “Hey Google,” but also through personalized advertisements that follow conversations had on them. See, it’s no coincidence that you’re sometimes served advertisements that directly relate to a phone conversation you just had.
It’s similar to how search engines track our activity to ensure we’re delivered the most relevant results and advertisements. In this respect, you might think of your smartphone as a verbal search engine. These devices and the applications on them are capable of internet tracking, too. So, the next time you beckon “Hey Google” or Siri, know that it’s just like opening a browser window.
And your data can be collected, oftentimes for advertising or marketing purposes.
Is there a way to keep commercials from being so loud?
Filing a complaint – The FCC does not monitor programming for loud commercials. We rely on people like you to let us know if they think there’s a problem. If you have experienced what you believe is a violation of the rules regarding the loudness of commercial TV ads, you may file a complaint with the FCC at no cost. What to include in your complaint:
If you watched the commercial on pay TV (cable or satellite) or if you watched it on a broadcast station The name of the advertiser or product promoted in the commercial The date and time you saw the commercial The name of the TV program during which it aired Which TV station (by call sign and/or channel number and the station’s community) or pay TV provider transmitted the commercial If you watched the commercial on pay TV, the channel number on which you saw it and the cable programmer or network
Why are some commercials muted?
Re: Tv goes silent during commercials Usually, that’s because the advert is targeted at a specific location. Multiple ads may be showing in different regions, but not in yours.
Why are commercials muted?
The advertiser wants your ATTENTION! So they typically set the sound to a high level, which viewers wouldn’t tolerate in a regular program. There has been research into various ways to detect commercials and automatically mute the TV (or pause the recording on a VCR), and this elevated sound level is one of them.
Why does Alexa want to learn my voice?
Amazon has been very successful in putting its voice-powered digital assistant, Alexa, in a wide variety of speakers and devices. From its own Echo products to third-party speakers from the likes of Sonos and Libratone, Amazon has successfully expanded the Alexa universe to make the assistant commonplace in many homes.
If you have an Echo or other Alexa product in your home, you can make it even more useful to yourself (and your family) by training it to recognize your vocie specfically. Training your Echo to recognize your voice has a lot of benefits, primarily for personalization. So when you ask for music, Alexa will play stations or albums you like, but when, say, your partner does, that same Echo will blast out the musit they like instead.
This personalization extends to things like lists and reminders, as well as other personal content like audiobooks. Here’s how to train your Echo or other Alexa device to recognize your voice.
Why is my Alexa not responding and blue?
2. Check if Your Wi-Fi Network Is Functioning Properly – The Amazon Echo speaker relies on a working Wi-Fi connection to function properly. Without a stable internet connection, the speakeer can’t communicate with Amazon’s servers to process your queries. As a result, Alexa may get stuck in an offline state leading to the constant blue ring. Restart your Wi-Fi router if your internet connection is fine, but the speaker still isn’t connecting to it.