If you’ve ever found it difficult to hear Alexa over your dishwasher, Amazon’s digital assistant has a new feature that can speak over noisy environments.
First reported by The Verge, the new “adaptive volume” feature enables Alexa to speak louder if other noise is detected. The mode can be activated by saying “Alexa, turn on adaptive volume.”
It’s reportedly only available in the U.S. so far, and we tried this with an Amazon Echo in the UK — it was indeed “not supported.”
Alexa’s adaptive volume mode could potentially improve accessibility for users who are hard of hearing and find it difficult to hear the digital assistant over background noise like dishwashers, TVs, or music from other speakers. It’s definitely a much more welcome addition to Alexa than its terrifying whispering abilities.
However, the better Alexa gets at distinguishing background noise, the more we get that familiar creeping feeling — one that raises yet another a red flag for privacy. Remember, unless you change your settings, your device records your conversations if it gets merely a whiff of the wake word “Alexa.” Sometimes, it doesn’t even need one to start recording, and let’s not forget about those contractors who are paid to listen in on your conversations (here’s how to stop that happening).
Sure, Amazon says, “Alexa and Echo devices are designed to record as little audio as possible and minimize the amount of background noise streamed to the Cloud.” But remember, the smarter Alexa gets — though you might benefit from hearing it more clearly over your washing up — the smarter Amazon itself gets.
