Sometimes we have to be silent. Yelling Alexa commands while your baby or other important people are sleeping can lead to unwanted results. Fortunately, Alexa has a "whisper mode" so that we can do what we need to do quietly without causing complete chaos.
Enabling whisper mode is pretty straightforward, but how exactly does it work? Also, does it work as well as regular speech? We also had other questions, like is Alexa's voice scary when she whispers? Here's how it works, why it works, and how to activate whisper mode.
How to activate whisper mode
There are several ways to get Alexa to speak very quietly.
The first method is simple. Just say, "Alexa, turn on whisper mode." Alexa will respond with a confirmation that whisper mode has been activated.
Another way to get Alexa to have a sweet, nocturnal conversation is to turn on the whisper mode setting in the Amazon Alexa app. Here's how.
Step 1: Open the Amazon Alexa app.
2nd step: Press the More tab at the bottom right.
Step 3: Tap Settings on the list.
Step 4: Scroll down and press Voice responses listed under Alexa Preferences.
Step 5: Press the button next to Whisper mode to activate this feature.
Further reading
How does whisper mode work?
In order for Alexa to use whisper mode, the smart speaker must be able to sense whether a person is whispering or not, understand voice input, and respond in the same way.
The problem is, when you whisper, you're not really using your voice.
"Whispered speech is predominantly unspoken, which means that it does not involve vocal cord vibration and has less energy in lower frequency bands than ordinary speech," says Zeynab Raeesy, Alexa Speech Group scientist, in an Amazon Alexa Developers blog.
Whisper mode uses short-term memory neural networks (LSTMs), which are used in speech recognition. Also important is Alexa's pointing process - how it detects when you're done saying a command and wait for a response. Silence is also part of the input for detection of whispers.
In an effort to address this non-vocal issue, scientists at Alexa examined state-of-the-art LSTM confidence data on utterance frames, then made changes for optimal efficiency. These developments allow Alexa to understand and respond to different volumes, even to whispers.
We've found that some Echo devices pick up whispers better than others. For example, the Echo point delivers fantastic performance, while the Echo look is much more inconsistent.
It works well?Alexa recognizes whispers much like normal voices. However, there is a distinct difference. When whispering, you need to be close to the speaker so Alexa can understand what you are saying. This is especially important if there is a lot of background noise.
If you whisper a phrase that Alexa doesn't understand, she let yourself know by whispering back, "Sorry, I didn't get it."
Fortunately, its whisper is neither disturbing nor robotic. Alexa looks very human.
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