Harman Kardon Invoke speaker listening at random times

poit57

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Aug 8, 2014
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I've had my Invoke speaker for 3 days. After setting it up, I enabled playing a sound when it starts listening. I notice while watching TV that it would make that sound at random times when there wasn't any dialogue - nothing sounding like "Hey Cortana," but just music or sound effects. I disabled playing a sound when it starts listening because of this.

Last night while I was out, my brother texted from home asking if I was doing something to communicate with the speaker remotely. He said that while he was watching TV, Cortana, from the Invoke speaker, would randomly just say something like, "I don't know the answer to that right now, but I'm always learning."

Again, I'm pretty sure there aren't any tie-in promotions with any TV shows or commercials that demonstrate using "Hey Cortana" to advertise the product, so I'm not sure why the Invoke would be triggered to start listening. Has anyone else noticed this happening with the TV playing in the same room as their Invoke?
 

Pairadyce

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My 3 Invokes do the same. I think there are some fluctuations in speech that seem to trigger it. I think Microsoft should add voice training to recognize a user but maybe they felt that would decrease it's universal appeal as a new product since a phone/computer is more of a personal device whereas this is meant for open space.
 

newEDB

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When I returned home yesterday, my in-laws said the Invoke is playing music for half a day. I checked the online voice recording, and noticed the tv series my in-laws were watching trigged Cortana to play one of Lionel Riches' song, then it just continued on. What is funny is that the tv series is in Chinese, and my in-laws do not speak English at all.
 

Scienceguy Labs

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Yeah, mine comes to life often, but only when my television is on. I've experimented by monitoring it while my television is on and off. I only get random Cortana responses while my TV is on. It's as if she is keyed in to listen to that initial sound of "Hey", and gets triggered by anything remotely similar to it. Interestingly, not everything triggers her to record the interaction. In my history, I see far fewer recorded interactions than I actually hear happening.
 

poit57

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I didn't think to check the device history. I just pulled it up from my phone, and it shows two interactions from Monday night when my brother said she was randomly talking to him.

Question: Fairy makeup.
Answer: Sorry, I can't help with that, but I'm always learning.

Question: Lexi wants to get here.
Answer: Sorry, I can't help with that, but I'm always learning.

It must be something that the TV said that triggered the speaker to listen. Last night, it happened again with these two interactions.

Question: No ride home.
Answer: I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that one yet.

Question: The bathroom for the direction of 1%
Answer: I'm sorry, I can't help out with this one.
 

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