Amazon announces new word to wake up Alexa

Customers in the UK have been provided a brand new word to wake up their Echo devices.

Amazon announced that "Ziggy" is the fifth-word option to wake up their devices in addition to "Alexa", "Amazon", "Computer" and "Echo". The wake word can be changed by either using the official Alexa app or the 'Settings' screen and can either be used with a male or female voice option, Wales Online reports.

Customers can change Alexa's voice with remarkable ease by simply saying "Alexa, change your voice". Dennis Stansbury. Alexa UK Country Manager said: "We are constantly looking for ways to offer our customers more choices so they can personalise their Alexa experience.

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"The wake word is very important as Alexa devices are specially designed to only detect the user’s chosen wake word. Our devices detect wake words by identifying acoustic patterns that match the wake word, so a lot of consideration goes into the selection.

"We chose ‘Ziggy’ not only because it performed well in testing, but because it’s fun and reflects Alexa’s wealth of knowledge on everything from A to Z. As an aside, I am a self-confessed David Bowie fan, so I am enjoying saying ‘Ziggy, play Ziggy’ and ‘Ziggy, play guitar’ to my Echo device.”

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