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Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

machinelearning.apple.com

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Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#21

Post by DonaldPShimoda »

s3r3nity wrote: post #6
webwielder2 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is literally about Apple's Echo competitor.

That's a little reductionist - it's a paper in Apple's Machine Learning journal that has a lot of actual technical details, rather than an ad / marketing material.

Uhh I think "journal" is a little generous (if we compare to actual papers/journals), even if that is the term Apple chooses to use. This is a well-written scientific article (maybe short paper, but not a regular-length paper) published on Apple's Machine Learning-focused blog.

My point isn't to be nitpicky. I just think that the truth is that this article falls somewhere an accessible digest article (e.g., Ars Technica) and an actual paper (e.g., a publication in NeurIPS or EMNLP).

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#22

Post by toasterlovin »

melling wrote: post #14
fastball wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me get this straight. You want Apple to put more mics into the iPhone, so that it can better address a use-case that Apple is already addressing with a well-engineered product built expressly for that purpose? OK.

Let me clarify for you. I would like my $1300 phone to answer me when it’s sitting 3 feet away from me. I wanna start music, I want to pause music, I want to ask it questions, and I want it to work reliably. When a timer stops, for example, I want to be able to say "hey Siri stop timer." It’s perfectly acceptable if Apple doesn’t see this as a use case. I’ll simply take my business somewhere else to solve that proble…

Maybe your phone is malfunctioning? My iPhone 7 easily responds to Hey Siri from 10 or so feet away. It's not as good as HomePod, but seems to work well enough.

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#23

Post by reaperducer »

kharms wrote: post #17

In my experience they over-optimized, with homepod now responding to "hey Sara" instead of Siri. Drives my partner nuts.

"Hey Sara" makes sense to me. Sort of. Because there's at least a "Hey" trigger.

Why my wife's iPhone responds every time she says, "Are you serious?" makes less sense. Especially since the response from Siri doesn't show her inquiry string on the screen, just Siri's response, which is usually, "I'm always serious."

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#24

Post by neom »

A few of my friends have Google Home and I found it very interesting they have to shout louder at the device when the music is louder, I've never had a problem with the HomePod hearing me, even if I whisper and music is playing. I have a HomePod in the livingroom about 15 feet from the bathroom and it can always hear me in the morning. I also find it's good at knowing what HomePod in my house to react on, and handing the request off to the HomePod if my iPhone picks up. My only complaint is that if my iPhone is upside down Hey Siri stops working on the HomePod.

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#25

Post by melling »

DonaldPShimoda wrote: post #18
melling wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me clarify for you. I would like my $1300 phone to answer me when it’s sitting 3 feet away from me. I wanna start music, I want to pause music, I want to ask it questions, and I want it to work reliably. When a timer stops, for example, I want to be able to say "hey Siri stop timer." It’s perfectly acceptable if Apple doesn’t see this as a use case. I’ll simply take my business somewhere else to solve that proble…

> I want my $1300 phone to answer me when it’s sitting 3 feet away from me. Is this a problem you have? I'm able to reliably use Siri on my phone from up to maybe 2-3 feet away in a moderately noisy environment (casual conversation around a table) with almost no issue, and I can easily use it up to 10+ feet away in a quiet environment. I've had this success since the 7+ at least (when I tested it), but I've continued…

Try saying:

“Hey Siri, create a 10 second timer”

“Hey Siri, play some Rolling Stones”

Find yourself picking up the phone to stop these two actions?

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#27

Post by endorphone »

gnicholas wrote: post #8
melling wrote: post #2

"Unlike Siri on iPhone, which operates close to the user’s mouth," I wish they wouldn't make this assumption. Siri would be much more useful sitting on my kitchen counter or coffee table. I now use the Echo for timers, music, weather, movie times, random questions, ...

I find that my iPhone is responsive to Siri requests if I'm within 8-10 feet. It's possible that training "Hey Siri" at this distance could help. But at the end of the day, Apple won't optimize too much for this use case, since they want you to buy a HomePod, Apple Watch, or AirPods. Also, there's power consumption to think about. The HomePod is plugged 24/7, whereas you want your iPhone battery to last a long time.

As an aside, one neat side effect of hey Siri is that often multiple devices can hear you at the same time. In my office I have my XR, iPad, and for dev an iPhone 7 and 8. When I say hey Siri I often hear all of them start to respond, but then all but one cancels listening. I've never really paid attention to which one wins the battle, but it does usually seem to be the device closest to me.

Just thought it was interesting as something they had to accommodate -- multiple devices all phoning home to determine if there's a race, and if so who should field the request.

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#28

Post by melling »

mikestew wrote: post #16
melling wrote: post #2

"Unlike Siri on iPhone, which operates close to the user’s mouth," I wish they wouldn't make this assumption. Siri would be much more useful sitting on my kitchen counter or coffee table. I now use the Echo for timers, music, weather, movie times, random questions, ...

Siri would be much more useful sitting on my kitchen counter or coffee table. That's called "a HomePod". I now use the Echo for timers, music, weather, movie times, random questions, ... "Because the iPhone does not fill the role of 'smart speaker', instead of buying Apple's smart speaker I will purchase someone else's smart speaker." To each their own, but to me it's like complaining how the Apple Watch makes for a…

I have a $400 speaker in my kitchen. I use it with my $30 Echo Dot and not my $1300 iPhone because the Dot is a much better experience.

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#29

Post by fastball »

melling wrote: post #14
fastball wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me get this straight. You want Apple to put more mics into the iPhone, so that it can better address a use-case that Apple is already addressing with a well-engineered product built expressly for that purpose? OK.

Let me clarify for you. I would like my $1300 phone to answer me when it’s sitting 3 feet away from me. I wanna start music, I want to pause music, I want to ask it questions, and I want it to work reliably. When a timer stops, for example, I want to be able to say "hey Siri stop timer." It’s perfectly acceptable if Apple doesn’t see this as a use case. I’ll simply take my business somewhere else to solve that proble…

So your next phone is going to be a non-iPhone if they don't improve "Hey Siri"?

I understand that you would like "Hey Siri" to be better. What is not clear to me is how you think Echo Dots are a "competitor" to your phone. Echo Dots are purpose-built Home Assistant hardware. Just like the HomePod. No phone is going to perform nearly as well as a purpose-built home assistant -- it's a hardware limitation. No matter how many mics you put in any phone, the far-field performance is not going to be great. It's like you want your sedan to be just as good at carry heavy loads as your pickup truck. That's ridiculous. And as far as Home Assistants go, the HomePod's mic/noise setup is hands down the best.

So if you find yourself constantly asking questions of your phone while its sat down in your living room or kitchen or bedroom or wherever it is you're setting timers and playing music (I'm going to bet it's the kitchen), buy a HomePod for your kitchen. That is the solution to your problem.

Or you could get Google Home products. They are also better than the Echo line. Sounds to me like you're just disappointed you bought the worst Home Assistant products on the market.

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#30

Post by PascLeRasc »

neom wrote: post #24

A few of my friends have Google Home and I found it very interesting they have to shout louder at the device when the music is louder, I've never had a problem with the HomePod hearing me, even if I whisper and music is playing. I have a HomePod in the livingroom about 15 feet from the bathroom and it can always hear me in the morning. I also find it's good at knowing what HomePod in my house to react on, and handing…

Do you mean if your phone is in your pocket upside down, Siri doesn't work on the Homepod? That's very weird.
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