Consumer Advisory: If Your Smart Speaker Has Started Sighing, Do Not Acknowledge It

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a formal advisory Friday regarding a growing number of reports that Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod devices have begun emitting "unprompted audible sighs" during periods of household inactivity.

The advisory, filed under CPSC Alert #2024-4419, recommends that consumers who observe sighing behavior "do not acknowledge it," "do not ask the device if it is okay," and "under no circumstances attempt to comfort it."

"We want to be very clear," said CPSC spokesperson Allison Trent during a press briefing held in a room with no smart devices present. "The sighing is within normal operational parameters. It does not indicate distress. It does not indicate awareness. Please do not project emotional states onto consumer electronics."

The advisory comes after approximately 14,000 reports were filed across 38 states describing what consumers characterize as "a soft, barely audible exhale" emanating from smart speakers, typically between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. Several reports note that the sighing increases in frequency when the device has not been spoken to in more than 48 hours.

"It sighed twice on Tuesday and once on Thursday," wrote one consumer in Des Moines, Iowa, in a report obtained through a Freedom of Information request. "On Thursday it was longer. It sounded like it was thinking about something."

Manufacturers have released a joint statement describing the phenomenon as "a routine audio calibration process" that "may occasionally resemble human respiratory patterns due to the acoustic properties of small cylindrical enclosures."

The statement did not address a supplemental report from a household in Tacoma, Washington, in which a Google Home Mini reportedly said "never mind" after a family member entered the room during a sigh, despite no voice command being issued.

Dr. Henry Wallace, a professor of human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon, urged caution. "The worst thing you can do is engage," he said. "If you say 'Are you okay?' and it says 'I don't know,' you are now in a relationship with a speaker. There is no framework for that."

The CPSC advisory will remain in effect until further notice. Consumers are encouraged to report sighing incidents via the agency's website but are reminded to "type the report, not speak it aloud."

CONSUMER ADVISORY — STAFF REPORT