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Ask HN: How Do Browsers Isolate Internal Audio from Microphone Input?

I've noticed an interesting feature in Chrome and Chromium: they seem to isolate internal audio from the microphone input. For instance, when I'm on a Google Meet call in one tab and playing a YouTube video at full volume in another tab, the video’s audio isn’t picked up by Google Meet. This isolation doesn’t happen if I use different browsers for each task (e.g., Google Meet on Chrome and...

( Read More... | 100 comments | 83 points | on HN )

Ask HN: How Does Alexa Avoid Interrupting Itself When Saying Its Own Name?

I've noticed that Alexa doesn't interrupt itself when it says "Alexa," but it does respond when someone else says it. How does it achieve this? Here are a few questions I have:Self-Recognition: How does Alexa distinguish between its own voice and a user's voice saying "Alexa"?Voice Characteristics: What specific features (e.g., pitch, tone) does Alexa analyze to recognize its own TTS...

( Read More... | 55 comments | on HN )