Siri Held Back by Lack of Advancements in Microphone Technology

[abhibeckert]

Yeah just point the finger elsewhere if you suck.

- Dictated perfectly by Siri

View attachment 646655

Recorded perfectly on your MacBook Pro with a dual microphone array, probably in a quiet room?

Oh that's why Alexa can hear me from across a noisy room?!

Which has an array of seven microphones...

Notice all animals have two large ears, each separated as far apart as possible given the size of the head. We need to be doing the same thing with mics.

 

[Schwyz]

I’m just going to summarize all of the comments below so you don’t have to waste time rereading.

“blah blah blah, EXCUSES!”

you’re welcome.

 

[WiseAJ]

The NSA would like better & more microphones in your devices as well.

"Hey NSA..."

 

[Kiro]

Wouldn't it be awesome if siri would record every word she listens to? Transcript it and index it - so it would be searchable.

So you could ask her stuff like "what song did I hear at wallmart yesterday?"
With gps and shazam integration she could get you this info.

Or ask her "What was mr x response to my proposal to sale the car for 5000$?"
From the context, she could get the answer.

Of course, this has to be properly encrypted etc.
who, if not apple could pull this of with enough privacy?

THIS would be a useful assistant feature and also a killer app in my opionion.

 

[JPLC]

OK Google works just fine for me. With the same phone/microphone as Siri that fails a lot.

 

[skinned66]

Siri does a better job understanding me than Cortana does on my Xbox One with minimal background noise. And the Kinect has a 4 microphone array.

 

[wschutz]

That's an interesting take on the issue, one that I hadn't considered before. If anyone could solve this issue and advance the technology for microphones I think it would be Apple.

Apple will not solve the issue. Apple will use the technology available at that moment and sell it as the innovation of the year (engineered by Apple).

Or in other words... it is quite funny that Apple comments on this when it presents itself as the innovator and leader of many things, and in the end, it is just assembling the different parts that smaller companies do actually research and develop and give them a nice software layer around to sell them as something that no one has done before (to be fair with Apple... when they do it, they usually do it well though).

 

[sik08amg]

Siri is really a joke. So if I use "hey Siri" how the heck do I get it to go away?

 

[techwhiz]

Load of crap.
I have a MSEE and my area of specialization was DSP and processor architecture.
Microphone technology is not the limitation and hasn't been in a while.
Speech recognition technology has been the issue. Dragon and others have done it.
Google on my Nexus 6P gets it right for me 99% of the time.
A recent study showed that text to speech was almost 3x faster in texting that fingers.

What are they talking about?

 

[WannaGoMac]

Uh no. I still cant get Siri to schedule a meeting without it calling the meeting "Meeting", or to remind me of something that doesnt have "remind" in the title.

Siri is just like voice recognition of the last 25 years, just be sure to say the exact key phrase and things work ok...

 

[Nunyabinez]

it is quite funny that Apple comments on this when it presents itself as the innovator and leader of many things, and in the end, it is just assembling the different parts that smaller companies do actually research and develop and give them a nice software layer around to sell them as something that no one has done before (to be fair with Apple... when they do it, they usually do it well though).

No, what's funny is that you comment on this without reading the story (or at least comprehending it). Apple said NOTHING. This was a Bloomberg report, but let's not let pesky facts get in the way of our Apple bashing.

 

[wschutz]

No, what's funny is that you comment on this without reading the story (or at least comprehending it). Apple said NOTHING. This was a Bloomberg report, but let's not let pesky facts get in the way of our Apple bashing.

I do think the one who hasn't read it's you... the post here talks about a news from Bloomberg and an interview with Craig Federighi. I do believe he works for Apple... and I do also believe he is being quoted... just saying
Have a good day and don't jump so easily on factual critique from some Apple users like me

 

[44267547]

I always used Siri in the past, but Google is killing it with accuracy, speed and options for the user.

Siri, primarily for me is used for simple tasks. Honestly, that's all I feel she can do accurately in my opinion.

 

[hiddenmarkov]

Make your own mics then...

Leave the digital zealots alone lol....this is an area where older tech works better. Comments made about research. they do that...on their old school analog mics. Happy and very content Rode owner. You pay a few dollars, well worth it though.

For the digital zealots the issue with digital mics is it relies on signal processing (as the article mentions) to clean up the channel. it takes it all in, and works it on the backend. Issue: at various times good audio can be indistinguishable from noise.

And the phone processes this on site and rt as it were. Its processing is meant for speed. Audio people (strict audio or videographers)....we have expensive applications and laptops/computers to properly process this stuff in post.

Where as with analog like my Rode Mic...I can do many things to offset this. dead cats for outside work...a true god send. that furry fuzzy covering that at first glance looks cheap and cheezy as hell, man it does wonders for wind noise reduction. Good mics have dB cut switches, low and high pass filter switch. In short...I change out what the mic takes in to clear up the sound before it even hits the recording device.

These here cell phones...don't have that.

 

[Keirasplace]

Exactly. Also, if industry-wide microphone technology is the limiting factor (and has stagnated since the iPhone 5) then how have Google Now and Cortana advanced so much while Siri remains close to useless?

They're ALL BAD. Seriously, they all suck hard, just in different ways.
Anyone being "fanboy" about this I can't take seriously.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Load of crap.
I have a MSEE and my area of specialization was DSP and processor architecture.
Microphone technology is not the limitation and hasn't been in a while.
Speech recognition technology has been the issue. Dragon and others have done it.
Google on my Nexus 6P gets it right for me 99% of the time.
A recent study showed that text to speech was almost 3x faster in texting that fingers.

What are they talking about?

A perfect demonstration of the Some Guy on the Internet Principle. Everything you just read is totally wrong, because Some Guy on the Internet says so.

Well This Guy on the Internet has seen his Apple Watch take perfect dictation from the radio instead of the text he was trying to send. The watch could not detect that I was speaking nearer to the watch and more loudly. Seems mic selectivity is a real issue.

 

[WiseAJ]

Siri is really a joke. So if I use "hey Siri" how the heck do I get it to go away?

It is annoying that it doesn't automatically go away. Having to reach up and press the home button while driving to get back to waze after I change use siri to change the music playlist etc is a hassle and defeats the "hands free" purpose.

 

[S.B.G]

Apple will not solve the issue. Apple will use the technology available at that moment and sell it as the innovation of the year (engineered by Apple).

Or in other words... it is quite funny that Apple comments on this when it presents itself as the innovator and leader of many things, and in the end, it is just assembling the different parts that smaller companies do actually research and develop and give them a nice software layer around to sell them as something that no one has done before (to be fair with Apple... when they do it, they usually do it well though).

You don't believe that Apple has the technical expertise, depth of resources and ability to solve this issue?

 

[Sandybox]

That's an interesting take on the issue, one that I hadn't considered before. If anyone could solve this issue and advance the technology for microphones I think it would be Apple.

Oh come on, seriously? Why would Apple be the ones to solve the problem? Thye can't even build a phone whose touch screen lasts a reasonable time. Why do some posters assume Apple have some kind of monopoly on smart people?

 

[now i see it]

I think Siri is really fantastic and practical. I'm especially glad that it has this really useful setting...

 

[Sandybox]

Apple will not solve the issue. Apple will use the technology available at that moment and sell it as the innovation of the year (engineered by Apple).

Or in other words... it is quite funny that Apple comments on this when it presents itself as the innovator and leader of many things, and in the end, it is just assembling the different parts that smaller companies do actually research and develop and give them a nice software layer around to sell them as something that no one has done before (to be fair with Apple... when they do it, they usually do it well though).

Apple will simply claim their microphone is 1nm thinner.........

 

[S.B.G]

Oh come on, seriously? Why would Apple be the ones to solve the problem? Thye can't even build a phone whose touch screen lasts a reasonable time. Why do some posters assume Apple have some kind of monopoly on smart people?

I didn't assume anything. Nothing is perfect, but if Apple decided to put their mind to it I'm sure they could come up with a solution.

 

[JonneyGee]

Uh no. I still cant get Siri to schedule a meeting without it calling the meeting "Meeting", or to remind me of something that doesnt have "remind" in the title.

Siri is just like voice recognition of the last 25 years, just be sure to say the exact key phrase and things work ok...

The word "list" also works.

"Add ___ to the ___ list" works without fail.

 

[Sandybox]

I didn't assume anything. Nothing is perfect, but if Apple decided to put their mind to it I'm sure they could come up with a solution.

As could any reasonably capable company given sufficient commercial motivation.

 

[MacNeto]

The actual reason Siri is held back (except Craig...)