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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

#31

Post by thesandlord »

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…

I have a Google Home Mini and a Insignia (Best Buy house brand) smart speaker, and both seem to have much better microphones than my standard Google Home.

Both the Echo and HomePod have multi-microphone arrays vs the two on the Home, and this really shows in far-field settings (especially with loud music)

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#32

Post by neom »

PascLeRasc wrote: post #30
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.

No, it has to be laying flat face down on the table for this to happen - I presume it's a result of the iPhones facedown detection but not sure why it's preventing my HomePod from registering.

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#33

Post by gok »

melling wrote: post #25
DonaldPShimoda wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Hm are you sure you have `Listen for "Hey Siri"` on?

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#34

Post by fetus8 »

toasterlovin wrote: post #20
kharms wrote: post #17

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

We've been getting lots of false positives, as well, but it seems to have started happening suddenly. I wonder if it's related to a recent software update.

Have you noticed that certain queries that used to work have stopped giving you the expected response?

I've started noticing more false positives since iOS 12 launched, and there's a couple requests that now don't give me the expected response. The most annoying issue happens to be requesting Siri to set an alarm. I'll ask: "Hey Siri, turn on my 6:15am alarm." to which she'll respond, "Which alarm do you want to turn on..." and then list all the different alarms I've set on the HomePod.

This all changed with iOS 12, and I wonder if I should reach out to Apple or just live with it and hope it improves with a software update??

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#35

Post by melling »

gok wrote: post #33
melling wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Hm are you sure you have `Listen for "Hey Siri"` on?

Yes. Siri will respond to those two questions.

Did you try each then try to stop them with Siri?

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#36

Post by TYPE_FASTER »

At some point in the future, I'd rather wear a BT headset most of the time in some inconspicuous manner and use that for notifications and requests. The device and headset could know if I'm focused and wait until I come up for air for lower priority notifications. I would always have a mic handy for vocal requests.

The last stop before true integration where I just have to think my request...

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#37

Post by athenot »

tdboorman wrote: post #11

I was testing a HomePod as a conference speakerphone in a large open office environment - where we often have all hands - and it did extremely well - clearly picking up individuals that were quite far from the actual device and that were speaking at a normal volume. I would love Apple to enable some sort of "Office Mode" for the HomePod similar to what they've done with the Apple TV (given the name doubt it will happ…

Cisco has the Webex Board (formerly SparkBoard). It has an array of 12 microphones on top and does audio processing to pick out who's talking, cancel the noise, and since it has an idea of where the participant is, the video part zooms into the speaker during a call.

Disclaimer: Yes I'm in that BU

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collaboration-endpoin...

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#38

Post by athenot »

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.

I use this when I need to locate my phone in a room.

"Hey Siri! Where are you?"

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#39

Post by faitswulff »

dkonofalski wrote: post #9
gnicholas wrote: post #7

> Directional noises generated by household appliances such as a vacuum cleaner, hairdryer, and microwave From what my friends with HomePods tell me, the HomePod is amazingly good at hearing people — even with lots of background noise. Interestingly, Apple's problem may cease being "can the HomePod hear the user?" and become "How loudly do we have the HomePod respond so that the human can hear the response while a va…

It is exceptionally good at hearing people. I tested with our HomePod and our Amazon Echo next to each other and the HomePod outperformed the Echo any time there was outside noise or any time the device itself was playing music. The fact that the Echo can't seem to hear people talking over itself seems like a big issue. The HomePod has to use some kind of audio cancellation that subtracts anything it's playing becaus…

> The fact that the Echo can't seem to hear people talking over itself seems like a big issue

Google Home has the same issue in my experience. It's quite annoying.

Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings

#40

Post by gok »

melling wrote: post #35
gok wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm are you sure you have `Listen for "Hey Siri"` on?

Yes. Siri will respond to those two questions. Did you try each then try to stop them with Siri?

Oh oh I see you're saying the requests you listed work but "hey Siri stop the timer" and "hey Siri stop the music" don't
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