Amazon is attempting to address a common complaint about smart home speakers by adding Adaptive Volume, which would make Alexa reply louder if it senses that you are in a noisy area. The mode, according to the firm, ensures that you can hear Alexa’s replies over any background noise (like the sound of a dishwasher, people talking, or music playing on another device). According to Amazon, the function is now only accessible to users in the United States, and you can turn it on by asking, “Alexa, turn on adaptive volume.”
Although Amazon does not discuss adaptive volume operating in the reverse direction, becoming quieter if there is no background noise, there are alternative ways to dynamically lower the level. One of these is Whisper Mode, which allows Alexa to respond in hushed tones if you speak gently to it. You may engage the mode by asking Alexa to “switch on whisper mode,” as seen in this soothing video.
If you’d rather merely change the level based on the time, Alexa fans advocate adding a “set volume” action to a custom routine that triggers at a specific time, or include it in your sleep routine.
We just gave Adaptive Volume a brief test with an Echo Dot next to a desktop PC with a spinning fan, and it appears to be a little bit uneven; some of Alexa’s replies were louder than usual, while others returned to normal volume.
The Adaptive Volume function isn’t the same as the adaptive sound feature on the spherical Echo fourth generation, which utilizes the device’s microphones to adjust music to sound better in your unique space. This isn’t the first time a smart assistant has tried to adjust its volume in reaction to the user’s surroundings — Google Nest’s Ambient IQ promises to do something similar for spoken word content or assistant answers.
