A good wake word: Difference between revisions

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What makes a good wake word?

'''What makes a good wake word?'''

Several factors contribute to the overall quality and usability of a wake word. Ideally it is a short, memorable, easily pronounced phrase, with uncommon phoneme arrangement. Most people are familiar with "Hey Google" or "Hey Siri" or "Hey Mycroft", for instance. "Alexa" is a single-word wake word, albeit one with an uncommon with uncommon phoneme arrangement. None of these are more than three syllables. In "Star Trek" the ship computers are frequently addressed by "Computer". This is a reasonable choice, but not without some drawbacks. The word computer can come up frequently in modern daily conversations. Its phoneme arrangement is not uncommon, potential leading to false activations. "OK Computer" or "Hey computer" add a bit more complexity to the wake word. Having a wake word over four or potentially five syllables starts to become clunky in its usage.

Several factors contribute to the overall quality and usability of a wake word. Ideally it is a short, memorable, easily pronounced phrase, with uncommon phoneme arrangement. Most people are familiar with "''Hey Google''" or "''Hey Siri''" or "''Hey Mycroft''", for instance. "''Alexa''" is a single-word wake word, albeit one with an uncommon with uncommon phoneme arrangement. None of these are more than three syllables. In "Star Trek" the ship computers are frequently addressed by "''Computer''". This is a reasonable choice, but not without some drawbacks. The word computer can come up frequently in modern daily conversations. Its phoneme arrangement is not uncommon, potential leading to false activations. "OK Computer" or "Hey computer" add a bit more complexity to the wake word. Having a wake word over four or potentially five syllables starts to become clunky in its usage.

While this document is primarily about English, the concepts can be applied to many other languages.

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-What makes a good wake word?
+'''What makes a good wake word?'''
-Several factors contribute to the overall quality and usability of a wake word.  Ideally it is a short, memorable, easily pronounced phrase, with uncommon phoneme arrangement.  Most people are familiar with "Hey Google" or "Hey Siri" or "Hey Mycroft", for instance.  "Alexa" is a single-word wake word, albeit one with an uncommon with uncommon phoneme arrangement.  None of these are more than three syllables.  In "Star Trek" the ship computers are frequently addressed by "Computer".  This is a reasonable choice, but not without some drawbacks.  The word computer can come up frequently in modern daily conversations. Its phoneme arrangement is not uncommon, potential leading to false activations.  "OK Computer" or "Hey computer" add a bit more complexity to the wake word.  Having a wake word over four or potentially five syllables starts to become clunky in its usage.
+Several factors contribute to the overall quality and usability of a wake word.  Ideally it is a short, memorable, easily pronounced phrase, with uncommon phoneme arrangement.  Most people are familiar with "''Hey Google''" or "''Hey Siri''" or "''Hey Mycroft''", for instance.  "''Alexa''" is a single-word wake word, albeit one with an uncommon with uncommon phoneme arrangement.  None of these are more than three syllables.  In "Star Trek" the ship computers are frequently addressed by "''Computer''".  This is a reasonable choice, but not without some drawbacks.  The word computer can come up frequently in modern daily conversations. Its phoneme arrangement is not uncommon, potential leading to false activations.  "OK Computer" or "Hey computer" add a bit more complexity to the wake word.  Having a wake word over four or potentially five syllables starts to become clunky in its usage.
 While this document is primarily about English, the concepts can be applied to many other languages.