I have seen multiple threads about this and they’re all old enough I’m willing to bring up a new one. Previously, when I stream audio to multiple speakers and/or use my Google home devices to control lights, pause/play podcasts, play/pause the Google connected tv box(in-built chromecast), and my actual chromecast in the guest bedroom or any combination thereof, I would say to the speaker, “Hey Google, pause.” or “Hey Google, pause the television.” and then it would either instantly or with a brief pause of its own, automatically do that exact thing. It would do so seamlessly and silently.
Now, it screams its reply to me that it is doing whatever it is I just asked it and quotes to me the device name or speaker group etc. or lighting settings and command. It is jarring and obnoxious and I’m sure that it’s entirely unnecessary for the device to function because, when I ask it to do the opposite, say play again after asking it to pause, turn off lights after asking them to turn them on, it just does it, silently or with a quiet little chime as the lights go out, no calling out and repeating my words back at me.
This never happened before a number of months ago. Perhaps nearly a year now. It’s so specifically obnoxious and irritating and irrational. It’s supposed to be the future, like scifi movie future with sleek voice commands and effortless integrated devices. Instead it’s me trying to figure out what preloaded dialect is least jarring for when I forget again that the speaker is going to reply to me at whatever volume the speaker was left at even when I ask it quietly to turn on the lights when I can’t sleep and I am trying to pass the time without waking my partner. We use the speakers everyday to share music and podcasts across the house and just want them to go back to the way they worked before. Seems pretty simple. I’ve seen multiple directions to turn off voice replies in the voice assistant app, no dice. It’s really grating. Hi Google. Pls fix this and go back to silently skimming each bit of data and tracking my every movement and somehow making me feel guilty for not reviewing every gas station I don’t post a review for or answer questions about it, like God intended.
Thnx. Love you. Mean it.
