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Siri Held Back by Lack of Advancements in Microphone Technology
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Google Now as implemented in my Nexus 6P is extremely useful, intelligent and accurate.
Siri as implemented in my iPhone 6S Plus is rather juvenile with its programmed cutesy responses.
I want useful information and functionality like Google Now... not a synthesized comic.
Did you actually click on the link and read the original article? It's easy! Performing this simple act is amazingly effective at answering such questions.
Mic tech has been perfected for nearly a century. It starts at $50. That's the issue. Pony up Apple.
I do love people complaining, especially from a non-technical standpoint. Everyone with an emphasis in digital circuits and double major in ME/EE with acoustics please step forward.
What I really love though is the phonetically gimped public whose slang accents that butcher their native tongue complain that its all on the hardware and not on their own screwed up vocal chords. The waveforms you emit are half the equation.
What I really love though is the phonetically gimped public whose slang accents that butcher their native tongue complain that its all on the hardware and not on their own screwed up vocal chords. The waveforms you emit are half the equation.
Apple can tout its hardware/software integration advantage all it wants, but if it's not coming out with any hardware/software integration to blow away companies without similar hardware/software integration (yes, that's you, Samsung), I don't see that it matters one bit.
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Yeah, but frankly, machines should adapt to people, not the other way around. The software should be able to account for accents, etc.
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Yeah, but frankly, machines should adapt to people, not the other way around. The software should be able to account for accents, etc.
They're all a little bit stupid and have trouble processing certain words. But Siri was a complete failure with Olympics information recently even when she did get the question right. There is no blaming a cheap mic for her blunders there.
I could not find any way of wording the question that would give me the medal tally for the USA, but Ok Google and Cortana fetched that information for me easily.And another forum member pointed out that Siri came back with information for a retired basketball player when Siri was asked how old Michael Phelps (the Olympic swimmer) was. Ok Google committed no such faux pas. You'd think someone would have tweaked Siri to focus on topical information and given it precedence, as it has more current relevance than the answers she was coming back with.
I like and use Siri for many things throughout the day. But I was surprised once I got new devices with Cortana and Ok Google working on them, how she's more comical than useful in comparison. And she does seem more hearing impaired. Next comes Cortana, with Ok Google seeming the fastest and most accurate and having the best ability to pick my speech out from background sounds.
I could not find any way of wording the question that would give me the medal tally for the USA, but Ok Google and Cortana fetched that information for me easily.And another forum member pointed out that Siri came back with information for a retired basketball player when Siri was asked how old Michael Phelps (the Olympic swimmer) was. Ok Google committed no such faux pas. You'd think someone would have tweaked Siri to focus on topical information and given it precedence, as it has more current relevance than the answers she was coming back with.
I like and use Siri for many things throughout the day. But I was surprised once I got new devices with Cortana and Ok Google working on them, how she's more comical than useful in comparison. And she does seem more hearing impaired. Next comes Cortana, with Ok Google seeming the fastest and most accurate and having the best ability to pick my speech out from background sounds.
Um yeah. That's kind of the point of this article. Apple is saying the some make good hardware (Alexa's microphone array that's always on) and some make good software (Google Now for instance) but Apple makes them both. If Siri contained many microphones and was always on and listening, she would hear you from across a noisy room as well.
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Saavy? Alexa is AC powered giant cylinder with a microphone array that only has to parse limited commands with no means of interactivity. You're comparing apples and oranges there.
[doublepost=1472191805][/doublepost]Sure... blame the microphone. Siri is one dumb ass piece of crap. Last week I tried to test Siri again. I just passed Walmart. I asked Siri, Give me directions to the nearest Walmart. The answer.. a store 15 miles away. It's almost always like that. Useless.
Services like Siri, Cortana, and Alexa are being held back by a lack of advancements in digital microphone technology, reports Bloomberg, citing the opinions of several analysts.
While processors, camera sensors, and other vital iPhone components have evolved rapidly over the course of the last several years, the same can't be said for microphones. Digital microphones still have trouble focusing on filtering out background noise and clearly detecting faraway voices, impacting device listening capabilities.
With artificial intelligence growing in popularity, however, Bloomberg says manufacturers are scrambling to improve microphone tech.Apple and other companies who rely on microphones to deliver queries to smartphones and other devices are said to want technology improvements that will make them better able to distinguish voices from other sounds at longer distances.
In a recent interview, Apple SVP of software engineering Craig Federighi said that microphones have a big impact on Siri's ability to understand commands. "It's not just the silicon," he said. "It's how many microphones we put on the device, where we place the microphones. How we tune the hardware and those mics and the software stack that does the audio processing." He said Apple's expertise at combining hardware and software gives the company "an incredible advantage" over companies just working on AI with software.
In the same interview, Apple execs said Siri's capacity to interpret commands has reportedly improved greatly following the introduction of machine learning, but in practice, Siri still often fails to hear commands or misinterprets spoken words, mistakes that could perhaps be improved with better microphone technology in the future.
Siri has long been limited to iOS devices and the Apple Watch, but with the launch of macOS Sierra this fall, the personal assistant will expand to Macs. Siri also came to the Apple TV last fall with the launch of the fourth-generation set-top box.
Article Link: Siri Held Back by Lack of Advancements in Microphone Technology
While is true that Siri needs to improve a lot in understanding the meaning of requests and provide better answers I think they are right about the mic.
Many times Siri misunderstands the words I say, especially when I speak into the mic provided with EarPods while walking on the street with a lot of noise. I use Siri in my own language and maybe english works better, I don't know, but many times I just say "call X" and it complains because it understands call Y and Y is not on my address book, very frustrating.
At home I don't really have that problem, so it is a matter of noise and they really ought to improve their mics and audio processing to enable us to use Siri outdoors.
Many times Siri misunderstands the words I say, especially when I speak into the mic provided with EarPods while walking on the street with a lot of noise. I use Siri in my own language and maybe english works better, I don't know, but many times I just say "call X" and it complains because it understands call Y and Y is not on my address book, very frustrating.
At home I don't really have that problem, so it is a matter of noise and they really ought to improve their mics and audio processing to enable us to use Siri outdoors.
What an irony! There was a report out recently which said that voice calls were clearer on non-smart phones. The manufacturers, including Apple, have been so obsessed with gimmicks that they've forgotten that they're supposed to work as phones too, so they haven't bothered with decent microphones (or in many cases speakers). I know that the mic on my cheap Android phone is so bad that people often can't make out what I'm saying. Finally, when it affects one of the less essential features, Apple worries about (or blames) the mic.
I logged in after years away from this forum to give this a hearty ********. One part of my job is to run on set audio capture for production studios. While size is a limiting factor for effective mica, the onboard high frequency filters have gotten mindblowingly good - most of which is just an onboard chip which is tiny and the rest is software that the chips run.
Siri sucks because of the software. My guess is that them blaming other **** rather than the software is why it still sucks. Bad look for Apple on this one :/
[doublepost=1472204785][/doublepost]Alexa has barely a complaint when it comes to my four year old giving it commands from 40 feet away
. That's some f.cked up English right there.
Siri sucks because of the software. My guess is that them blaming other **** rather than the software is why it still sucks. Bad look for Apple on this one :/
[doublepost=1472204785][/doublepost]Alexa has barely a complaint when it comes to my four year old giving it commands from 40 feet away
. That's some f.cked up English right there.
Good to know. What do you think is in there? Maybe a micro-PZM? I'm not saying that there should be a U-87 capsule and a mini SSL channel strip in a phone, but if they want to make an improvement, why not? A better mic and going with multiband compression/expansion while jacking up the sample rate to 48KHz couldn't hurt. I'll bet a lot of voice-consonants are being dropped or distorted because of low sample rates and hard-limiting. It could be the flip side of the mini TRS removal gaffe. ;o)
It's the sarcasm filters that are broken for sure.
Hahaha. Yup!! I posted this to Facebook a few weeks back.
Hahaha. Yup!! I posted this to Facebook a few weeks back.
I remember a buddy of mine who at the time was an Apple Employee (store level first on the floor helping customers and everntually promoted to genius) recomending the stand alone app, "Siri" made by the founders mentioned in the Wired article. This was back when I got my iPhone 3G! If I remember correctly, the standalone 3rd party Siri app was so much more efficient than the Siri of today who is built in to the OS (remember what tyrants apple was in terms of restricting 3rd party apps to control any native function despite how significant). Then we went through basically a rebirth of Siri but Apple's version - remember the delay when even dictating b/c she had to connect with Apple's servers? At least things are looser but does it matter when more often than not I bail on Siri. The purchasing of the company that founded Siri as well as the purchase of technology from many companies via the tactic of buying the company and thus, their patents is well doicumented in MacRumors. They cover Apple's acquisitions despite size, very well. Over the years, I get excited to read what type of specialities and technology as well as patents these companies own when apple scoops them up. Lately, however, I find myself triggered by some article to remember apple buying a very cool sounding company from thei standpoint off the Intelledtual Property apple is buying.
I was speaking of this with a former Fortune 500 CEO (non-tech company) and may have brought up apple's buying of that liquid metal company to only use their IP for the tool to remove sim trays and he asked me, given apple's huge amount of cash on hand, has it occurred to me that perhaps they are buying these companies, not necessarily to integrate their proprietary hardware or software, but rather just to bury them so compition can't use the IP. I hadn't thought of it that way but it certainly makes sense. I can't fault them from a business perspective but when tech gets held back it's hard not to be bummed at "what could've been" if Apple implemented the goodies they received from their investments.
I'm not making a blanket statement that this is standard operating procedure but it's annoying especially when a company whose computers I switched to exclusively in 2000 and subsequently bought every iphone and a number of PowerBooks, MacBooks, MBPs, iPads, ATV, and a very expensive stainless steel watchband to go along with an overpriced watch that I'm not using to the best of its abilities (actually using it much more since installing Watch OS3).
I rarely post but the readers here are so smart and often sharp in the memories such as the poster who reminded me about Siri in Beta. That's so funny / and sad but mostly funny at this point. I would gladly take back that original stand alone app which years ago was head and shoulders above a native feature. Apple seems all over the place these days compared to earlier days. I hope they come out with a kick ass line of new MBPs hopefully with an option for the old keyboard (yeah right) and sorry for not doing backflips for a visual representation of the fn customizations. That isn't going to change my life. Maybe a row of those Oleds between the keyboard rows so I can finally become a keyboard short cut jedi would impact my life especially as it illustrated hot Keys and shortcuts all in the context of the app you're in. I used to get so excited for keynotes and rumors. I'm sure I'm less excited because many companies are copying apple's wins and things are more diluted than before. I don't know, it just doesn't do it for me, but don't kid yourself - I'll be buying many more of their products as I have in the past. I think I regret posting, but felt the need to commiserate with my like minded people here. Gotta go use my liquid metal tooth pick.
I was speaking of this with a former Fortune 500 CEO (non-tech company) and may have brought up apple's buying of that liquid metal company to only use their IP for the tool to remove sim trays and he asked me, given apple's huge amount of cash on hand, has it occurred to me that perhaps they are buying these companies, not necessarily to integrate their proprietary hardware or software, but rather just to bury them so compition can't use the IP. I hadn't thought of it that way but it certainly makes sense. I can't fault them from a business perspective but when tech gets held back it's hard not to be bummed at "what could've been" if Apple implemented the goodies they received from their investments.
I'm not making a blanket statement that this is standard operating procedure but it's annoying especially when a company whose computers I switched to exclusively in 2000 and subsequently bought every iphone and a number of PowerBooks, MacBooks, MBPs, iPads, ATV, and a very expensive stainless steel watchband to go along with an overpriced watch that I'm not using to the best of its abilities (actually using it much more since installing Watch OS3).
I rarely post but the readers here are so smart and often sharp in the memories such as the poster who reminded me about Siri in Beta. That's so funny / and sad but mostly funny at this point. I would gladly take back that original stand alone app which years ago was head and shoulders above a native feature. Apple seems all over the place these days compared to earlier days. I hope they come out with a kick ass line of new MBPs hopefully with an option for the old keyboard (yeah right) and sorry for not doing backflips for a visual representation of the fn customizations. That isn't going to change my life. Maybe a row of those Oleds between the keyboard rows so I can finally become a keyboard short cut jedi would impact my life especially as it illustrated hot Keys and shortcuts all in the context of the app you're in. I used to get so excited for keynotes and rumors. I'm sure I'm less excited because many companies are copying apple's wins and things are more diluted than before. I don't know, it just doesn't do it for me, but don't kid yourself - I'll be buying many more of their products as I have in the past. I think I regret posting, but felt the need to commiserate with my like minded people here. Gotta go use my liquid metal tooth pick.
Don't even need to do that. Download google onto your iPhone and be blown away by how much more accurate and responsive the voice recognition is. Or maybe don't - ignorance is bliss. If Cook donated 10% of his bonus - perhaps Apple could hire some talent?
What I get from this is that Apple is master of none, and that Siri has both mediocre hardware and software leading to useless ai.
And no, comparing Alexa to Siri isn't apples and oranges. They are both voice recognition ai with the same end use. I'm not sure if it's a joke to use this cliche of "apples to oranges" on these forums, but it's getting old reading it.
Umm...that is complete ********. Google Now has improved dramatically, rarely misinterprets, and actually knows and learns a great deal.
Stop making excuses, Apple.
Stop making excuses, Apple.
I think this is the biggest reason for Siri's poor performance (though I'll admit it works well on my Apple Watch for simple commands like workouts, timers, reminders, etc.). I'll take the tradeoff for privacy, but I'd prefer that Apple not try to throw microphone technology out as an excuse. Basically they are saying that you can't expect much improvement for X years until mics get better. Background noise is not an issue for me personally.
I never said anything about voice recognition. My point was that Siri is hamstring by Apple not allowing it to mine your data like cortana and Now.
Plus Apple also is overly cautious about allowing 3rd party access to Siri.
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Comparing Siri to Alexa is like comparing Siri on iPhone to Siri on Apple TV - completely different sets of knowledge and response. I know you hear a woman's voice on both and assume they are all the same (or should be) but it's just not the case. All AI is artificially limited by their creators to some extent, AI on dedicated boxes or limited user input screens (like Apple Watch) are even more limited by design. The poor user experience you are having would be much worse if Siri could answer your question but not be able to show you anything or take you to the proper destination link.
