Choose how the assistant listens and answers

Change how the assistant listens and answers

Open the voice settings for your home and select the assistant device you want to change. On the phone, go to Settings, then Voice. On the web, open Voice.

1. Open Voice. On the phone, start in Settings and choose Voice. On the web, open Voice directly.Voice
2. Under Assistants, select the device you want to change.
3. Set Announce volume to control how loud the answer plays in that room.
4. Choose Playback mode. Select Auto, Audio clip, or Full takeover according to how you want the answer to interact with music.
5. Under Wake word to persona, choose which voice answers each supported wake word.
6. Select Save when your draft is ready.Save

What the playback choices do

• Auto lets the room decide how to play the answer.
• Audio clip ducks the music and plays the answer over it where supported.
• Full takeover stops playback, speaks the answer, then brings back what was playing.

What you should see afterwards

• The selected assistant stays highlighted in Assistants.
• The Announce volume and Playback mode fields show your saved choices after you save them.
• Each supported wake word keeps the persona you chose.
• If the home has no assistant devices, the page shows No assistant in the house yet.

Focused troubleshooting

• If Save is not available, check that you changed a value first. The button stays disabled until the draft is different.
• If no devices appear, confirm that you opened the right home and that the assistant device is already set up.
• If the assistant does not seem to answer in the room you expect, check the room settings in Home security or the room sheet for Listening and quiet hours.
• If a device shows Muted on the device, a screen setting does not override that physical mute state.
• If your home is partner-managed, use Support for help instead of trying to edit deployment files.