Echo has Selective Hearing

[Echo_B]

I've had the Echo for almost a year.  It (she) controls my Hue lights.  One of the group names for the lights is "the bedroom lights".  Around a month ago, Alexa stopped understanding the group name.  She gave the usual can't find group name in user profile or the other standard phrase she spits out.  I've unplugged, reset, and have contacted customers service (3x)  There are other things she's decided to not understand, like turning off the alarm in the morning. The last customer service rep had me change the group name to "the bed lights".  It works. But it sounds dumb.  I've gone with the British "the chamber lights".   She understands bedroom fan, bedroom lights, but has decided to no longer understand bedroom lights.  Nor to hear "Alexa stop"  to turn off the alarm in the morning. She now also has trouble distinguishing between 15 and 50.  Big difference when setting an alarm.  And she  willy nilly chooses when to hear her wake word.   I'm sure there are other things, but she's in a time-out right now, being replaced by Siri for awhile. This is the same selective hearing I use at work, so I think this may be personal.  Bottom line, she can't "hear" like she used to.  Customer service did say this was a "thing" and put my name on a list.  Oh, and they'll never get back to me when this is fixed, because,  rest assured, I'm on the list.

She now no longer understands "The Living Room Lights" group.  I have had that one for a year as well.  Also, when you tell her to shut the f*ck up, when she repeats it back (as she doesn't understand the command) she censors the the word f*ck.  So she can censor certain words but not hear other words.  Luckily, I'm on the list.

[jwlv]

Perhaps your Alexa has been hanging with the wrong crowd and learned some bad habits.

But joking aside, one thing you could try is to delete all of its "learned" voice data.  It is possible that Echo is getting confused hearing different voices in the same household. And trying to combine the voice data makes it that Echo doesn't understand anybody. This data is saved whether you trained your Echo or not. Amazon isn't the only company that does this. Apple (Siri), Microsoft (Cortana), Samsung, Google all do something similar.

To delete the Echo voice data, follow these steps:

1. Go to: http://www.amazon.com/myx  (login if you need to)
2. Click Your Devices
3. Click on your Echo device (if you have more than one)
4. Click Manage Voice Recordings and choose Delete.

It might also be a good idea to cycle the power to your Echo after this.

[Echo_B]

Thanks for your reply!  Are you referring to voice training (and its deletion)  ?  I'm the only one who speaks to her, so unless she's been cheating on me (which I wouldn't put past her at this point), she shouldn't have picked up any other voice patterns.  I will def try your idea.  Can't hurt.  As long as I don't lose my place on the mysterious tech support top secret master list.

[Echo_B]

Eh, nope.  Didn't work. 
She alternates between her two stock phrases:
"sorry, I couldn't find device or group name in xxxxx's profile" and
"I have found several devices matching that name, which one do you want". 

Even she doesn't know what she's doing.  Getting frustrated.  Can a tech device suffer from dementia?

[mike27oct]

I think sometimes Amazon re-arranges how Alexa understand things, it has happened to me and others. It could just be one those Alexa "gotchas".

Also, just ask Alexa to say bedroom via simon says.  It says it like this: bed-droom not like bed-room. It pronounces droom like it would drive.

[renegade600]

I think sometimes Amazon re-arranges how Alexa understand things, it has happened to me and others. It could just be one those Alexa "gotchas".

Also, just ask Alexa to say bedroom via simon says.  It says it like this: bed-droom not like bed-room. It pronounces droom like it would drive.

I tend to agree with you on this.  I think amazon does some tweaks based on reported issues and there are unintended consequences.   

[renegade600]

Perhaps your Alexa has been hanging with the wrong crowd and learned some bad habits.

But joking aside, one thing you could try is to delete all of its "learned" voice data.  It is possible that Echo is getting confused hearing different voices in the same household. And trying to combine the voice data makes it that Echo doesn't understand anybody. This data is saved whether you trained your Echo or not. Amazon isn't the only company that does this. Apple (Siri), Microsoft (Cortana), Samsung, Google all do something similar.

To delete the Echo voice data, follow these steps:

1. Go to: http://www.amazon.com/myx  (login if you need to)
2. Click Your Devices
3. Click on your Echo device (if you have more than one)
4. Click Manage Voice Recordings and choose Delete.

It might also be a good idea to cycle the power to your Echo after this.

what I do is to make it as short and concise as I can.   I will say "turn off living room" or "turn off bedroom" leaving out "the" and "lights"

[mike27oct]

I leave out the word "play" now, and say phrases like "tunein station KPLU" Alexa "gets it" fine

[Echo_B]

Tech listened in and heard me do all these commands.  They suggested to try adding the word  "the" in front of everything.  Nothing.  They are extremely patient and listen attentively, like a therapist.  And not unlike a therapist, once you leave you realize that none of your questions were answered.  Did I mention I'm on the list?

She no longer hears "turn on bedroom lights".  She still hears "turn on bedroom a/c / fan".  So it's not the word bedroom.  She also still understands living room a/c, but stopped hearing "living room lights".    I now use "chamber room lights" and "front room lights".  I'm becoming well versed in synonyms.  I'ts just a matter of remembering them.

Maybe it was a software update.  Who knows.
 It's just frustrating when you get those damn stock phrases of hers when the same commands worked a month ago.
She does seem to be getting more "intuitive" with music commands.  So it's not all doom and gloom.   But my lights come before Pandora.  And yes, I'm fairly sure I have not had a stroke.

[ScottinPollock]

All I can tell you is don't suffix all your light names with 'lights'. I have bedroom, media room, media, bath, kitchen, island, bay window, office, dining, deck, jacuzzi, shower, and closet, and they all work reliably. The only thing I use 'lights' for is a group for all lights.

[mike27oct]

As your therapist might ask, Echo_B do you see a pattern in the replies you are getting.? Like most things in life, the less you say, the better!

[Echo_B]

At this point the therapist would say to regroup and try to remember what brought us here in the first place. 

My Echo can no longer interpret some of the simple commands that have been in play for almost a year.  What was understood last week is not understood this week.  I have since changed and overly-simplified the commands to get the desired result, but my fear is that next week she'll once again say "yo, homey, what you want?", while I sit in the dark.

There seems to be a glitch in the matrix. Anyone else having this problem? 

With tech support, I feel like if I had a problem with my TV picture coming in upside down, I'd be told to stand on my head.  And that it's a known problem, and we've added your name to the the list with the others. 

I want the Alexa Alex Baldwin has (tv commercial reference)

[mike27oct]

If you feel you have a defective Echo, let Amazon know, and ask for an exchange, and don't take no for an answer.  I would.  Amazon is real good and reasonable about making exchanges.

[smokeyqat]

Tech listened in and heard me do all these commands.  They suggested to try adding the word  "the" in front of everything.  Nothing.  They are extremely patient and listen attentively, like a therapist.  And not unlike a therapist, once you leave you realize that none of your questions were answered.  Did I mention I'm on the list?

She no longer hears "turn on bedroom lights".  She still hears "turn on bedroom a/c / fan".  So it's not the word bedroom.  She also still understands living room a/c, but stopped hearing "living room lights".    I now use "chamber room lights" and "front room lights".  I'm becoming well versed in synonyms.  I'ts just a matter of remembering them.

Maybe it was a software update.  Who knows.
 It's just frustrating when you get those damn stock phrases of hers when the same commands worked a month ago.
She does seem to be getting more "intuitive" with music commands.  So it's not all doom and gloom.   But my lights come before Pandora.  And yes, I'm fairly sure I have not had a stroke.

so.... it sounds like YOU are the one that needs to be retrained then??  lol

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Echo_B]

We at Amazon understand the problem, we have witnessed the problem - so why don't YOU change to accommodate the Echo.