Amazon's Whisper Mode feature hits Echo devices in the US for discreet Alexa interaction
Amazon had loads of new stuff to announce at a surprise September 20 event, including a redesigned Echo Show with a larger display, refreshed versions of the Echo Dot and Echo Plus, a trio of new Echo-branded products focused on a premium audio experience, and even an Echo Wall Clock.
At the heart of it all, Alexa got a bunch of killer new features and capabilities as well, aiming to match and even exceed Google Assistant’s intelligence and versatility. Of course, some of the game-changing add-ons weren’t available right away, targeting a rollout to “select new and existing” Echo devices in the “coming months.”
Well, the time has come for an ingenious new trick to be enabled on Amazon’s industry-leading family of smart speakers. We’re talking about the Alexa Whisper Mode, which is as straightforward and impressive as it sounds.
With it, you can now whisper to your Echo and Alexa will whisper back. Amazon has been working on this functionality for over a year, exploring various more natural ways for Alexa to interact with users.
As you can imagine, it wasn’t easy to get the AI to intuitively react to advanced conversational cues like whispering, but ultimately, Amazon appears to have pulled it all off.
Whisper Mode could prove particularly useful for parents worried about waking up their children or simply those looking to keep the noise down in the morning or evening for various reasons. Say you want to check the weather conditions or traffic before leaving for work without waking up your spouse. Or silently get last night’s sports scores.
Alexa should be able to understand your whispered requests just fine and answer in a similarly discreet way. All you have to do to enable the feature, at least in the US, where it’s exclusively available for now, is tell Alexa to “turn on whisper mode.” Alternatively, you can find “Whispered Responses” in the Settings menu of your Alexa app, after accessing “Alexa Account” and “Alexa Voice Responses.”
At the heart of it all, Alexa got a bunch of killer new features and capabilities as well, aiming to match and even exceed Google Assistant’s intelligence and versatility. Of course, some of the game-changing add-ons weren’t available right away, targeting a rollout to “select new and existing” Echo devices in the “coming months.”
Well, the time has come for an ingenious new trick to be enabled on Amazon’s industry-leading family of smart speakers. We’re talking about the Alexa Whisper Mode, which is as straightforward and impressive as it sounds.
With it, you can now whisper to your Echo and Alexa will whisper back. Amazon has been working on this functionality for over a year, exploring various more natural ways for Alexa to interact with users.
As you can imagine, it wasn’t easy to get the AI to intuitively react to advanced conversational cues like whispering, but ultimately, Amazon appears to have pulled it all off.
Whisper Mode could prove particularly useful for parents worried about waking up their children or simply those looking to keep the noise down in the morning or evening for various reasons. Say you want to check the weather conditions or traffic before leaving for work without waking up your spouse. Or silently get last night’s sports scores.
Alexa should be able to understand your whispered requests just fine and answer in a similarly discreet way. All you have to do to enable the feature, at least in the US, where it’s exclusively available for now, is tell Alexa to “turn on whisper mode.” Alternatively, you can find “Whispered Responses” in the Settings menu of your Alexa app, after accessing “Alexa Account” and “Alexa Voice Responses.”
source: TechCrunch
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