(2 Steps) How To Get Alexa To Whisper [2023 Guide]

Have you ever wanted Alexa to quiet down a little?

That dream comes true today.

How?

You can get Alexa to whisper.

No more worrying whether Alexa will wake up the sleeping people in your house.

Especially your baby.

So how exactly do you do it?

Read on to find out:

How Whisper mode works.
Whether Whisper mode is effective.
The science behind Alexa’s Whisper Mode.
If you also need to whisper when you want Alexa to whisper.
And so much more…

How to get Alexa to whisper?

You can get Alexa to whisper by simply asking her to whisper, with a voice command. Alternatively, you can turn on Whisper Mode in your Alexa app. But remember: you also need to whisper to get Alexa to whisper back.

How long does whisper mode work?

Alexa’s Whisper Mode works for as long as you make a whispered request.

But when you turn it on for the first time, Alexa will actually not whisper.

She will say, “Whoa. You just whispered to me. From now on when you whisper I will whisper back.”

And there you have it.

For as long as you whisper to Alexa, she’ll whisper back.

“So does that mean that I have to whisper all the time?”

Yes.

Amazon first announced Whisper Mode in 2018, and it was made available to the public the following year.

And it works by understanding:

Whether or not you are whispering.
What you said.
How to respond back properly.

The catch is that when you’re whispering, you’re not using your vocal cords.

So the program can’t detect the vibrations in your voice that will make Alexa understand you.

To solve this problem, the scientists behind Alexa used long short-term memory neural networks or LSTMs.

Another important concept is the end-pointing process.

This is what Alexa uses to detect whether you’ve stopped speaking.

So what the scientists did is interpret something called peak LSTM confidence data over different frames.

And then they adjusted according to what will make Alexa understand different volumes.

Even very low volume, like a whisper.

But according to the scientists themselves: “We would like Alexa to react to conversational cues in just such a natural, intuitive way.”

And what this means is that Alexa will take your lead.

If you whisper, she will whisper back.

And if you talk in your normal voice again, she will do the same.

You may also like: How Much is Alexa at Walmart?

2 steps to get Alexa to whisper

#1: Say “Alexa, turn on ‘Whisper’ mode”

Now, if you want to get Alexa to start whispering, the first thing to do is to ask her.

The Whisper Mode isn’t activated by default, so you have to make a request.

Just say, “Alexa, turn on ‘Whisper’ mode.”

She will respond with, “Whoa. You just whispered to me. From now on when you whisper I will whisper back.”

Note: There are a few things that you need to check to get that to work:

Make sure that your microphone is working well.
Stay close to your Echo device.

#2: Enable Whisper Mode on the Alexa app

Another way to get Alexa to whisper is to enable Whisper mode on the app.

“How is that different from just asking her to whisper?”

Remember that your speaker has to be able to hear you properly to get Alexa to whisper.

So enabling Whisper mode is useful if you’re not close to your Echo device.

To enable Whisper Mode, all you have to do is:

Step 1: Open your Alexa app or go to www.Alexa.Amazon.com.

Step 2: Click or tap on “More”, which is in the bottom right corner of the app/screen.

Step 3: Click or tap on “Settings”.

Step 4: Find “Alexa Preferences”, then scroll down to “Voice Responses”.

Step 5: Click or tap on the toggle to the On position next to “Whisper Mode”.

And do you know what’s cool about it?

Even if you whisper a request to play music, Alexa won’t lower the music volume when she does play the music.

Unless you want her to.

Note: Alexa’s Whisper Mode only works in English.

Watch the whole process here:

“Okay, what if I want to turn off Whisper Mode?”

That’s easy, too!

The first way to disable Whisper Mode is to issue a voice command.

Just say, “Alexa, turn off Whisper mode”.

Or, you can do the following:

Step 1: Open your Alexa app or go to www.Alexa.Amazon.com.

Step 2: Click or tap on “More”, which is in the bottom right corner of the app/screen.

Step 3: Click or tap on “Settings”.

Step 4: Find “Alexa Preferences”, then scroll down to “Voice Responses”.

Step 5: Click or tap on the toggle to the Off position next to “Whisper Mode”.

Does Whisper mode work well?

The Whisper mode works properly, as long as Alexa can hear you well.

So as much as possible, make sure there is no background noise that can cut off what you’re saying.

But don’t worry.

If Alexa can’t hear your whisper properly, she will tell you.

She’ll whisper back, “Sorry, I didn’t get that.”

Alexa Brief Mode

Another cool feature that you can use alongside Whisper Mode is Alexa Brief Mode.

“What is Brief mode?”

Brief mode is when you want to get Alexa to answer briefly.

Or when you want her to acknowledge a request with a beep or a chime, instead of giving you a lengthy response.

“Can you give me an example?”

Sure!

Remember when you ask Alexa to turn off the lights and she answers with “Okay”?

If you don’t want her to acknowledge everything with a response, Brief mode makes Alexa just chime or beep to let you know it’s done.

To enable Brief Mode:

Open the Alexa app or go to www.Alexa.Amazon.com.
Tap or click on Menu, and then go to your Settings.
Find “Alexa Account”, then “Alexa Voice Responses”.
Click or tap on the toggle for On to enable Brief Mode.

And to disable Alexa Brief mode:

Open the Alexa app or go to www.Alexa.Amazon.com.
Tap or click on Menu, and then go to your Settings.
Find “Alexa Account”, then “Alexa Voice Responses”.
Click or tap on the toggle for Off to disable Brief Mode.

Can you make Alexa whisper in a routine?

As of now, Alexa’s Whisper Mode can’t work in a routine.

The best that you can do is ask her to lower the volume when she goes into a routine.

Alexa Whisper Mode not working

“What if I can’t get Alexa to whisper?”

Don’t worry, here are some fixes for you to try.

Step 1: Check if your microphone is working.

On your Echo device, there’s a microphone button.

Check to see if its light is Red.

If it is, it means that the mic has been disabled.

Tap or press on it and then release it to get the mic to work again.

Step 2: Check for background noise.

Your Echo device needs to hear you properly to get Alexa to whisper.

If there’s a lot of background noise, your device won’t hear you well.

A simple fix for this is to move your Echo device to a place where it’s a little less noisy.

Then try whispering again.

Step 3: Make sure your WiFi is working.

Your Echo device should be connected to the WiFi for Whisper Mode to work.

“Is there a simple way to check that?”

Yes! Your Echo will display a spinning orange light if the connection has been disrupted.

And to check whether your device is connected to your WiFi, do the following:

Open your Alexa app or go to www.Alexa.Amazon.com.
Find Menu, then scroll down to Settings.
Click or tap on your Echo device, then go to “Update WiFi”.
Check whether your device is connected to your WiFi network.

Step 4: Update your Echo.

Your Echo device should be running the most updated firmware version for all of its features to work properly.

Check whether your device has the latest firmware version through these:

Step 1: Open the Alexa app or visit www.Alexa.Amazon.com.

Step 2: Find Settings, then select your Echo device.

Step 3: Go to About, then check the “Device software version”.

Step 4: Visit Amazon’s support page and check the latest version for your device.

If your Echo device needs an update, you can do a force-update through your Echo device.

Make sure your device is connected to the WiFi.
Tap the “Mute” button, or the strike-through microphone button.
Wait for it to light up in Red.
Wait some more, until Alexa announces that she will do an update.

After that, your Echo device will restart.

And you will have the latest firmware version.