The struggle is real for smart speaker owners, who know all too well the frustration of accidentally awakening their digital assistant. Rest assured: Google is working on a fix, according to The Verge, which tipped customized voice detection sensitivity for Google Assistant devices.
The feature—starting to "roll out globally" but not yet widely released—was first spotted by XDA Developers Editor-in-Chief Mishaal Rahman, who apparently accessed it by tinkering with the app code. Screenshots posted to Twitter show a "Hey Google" sensitivity slider for increasing or reducing responsiveness. "You can also change the 'Hey Google' sensitivity for smart displays, too," he added in a follow-up tweet this week.
A number of tech companies landed in hot water last summer when people began questioning how smart speaker data is stored and who can listen to it. In response, Google announced a new sensitivity option for wake-word detection, allowing users to choose how much or little they have to enunciate "OK/Hey Google" to launch the assistant. There is no word on when the customization function will hit home speakers, though. While Google did not provide comment to PCMag, a company spokesperson confirmed the information published by The Verge and pointed to a September blog post detailing the upcoming feature.
The most recent update to Google's Assistant came in December, when the firm introduced an "impromptu" alarm option for the Lenovo Smart Clock, which adapts its ringtone to fit your situation—be it the time of day or the weather outside. Other adjustments include fine-tuning of the device's automatic brightness, an added music recommendation card, and more granular control over how long the alarm lasts.
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