Wake Word

Wake word detection enables a hands-free “Hey Siri” style experience. The service listens continuously for a keyword phrase, captures the user’s utterance that follows, and sends it to the AI automatically.

Starting Wake Word

await aiService.StartWakeWord("Hey Copilot");

Once started, the service:

1. Continuously listens for the wake word phrase
2. When detected, captures the user’s utterance via speech-to-text
3. Sends the utterance to the AI via TalkTo()
4. Loops back to listening for the wake word

Stopping Wake Word

aiService.StopWakeWord();

This cancels the background listening loop and returns the service to an idle state. The WakeWord property is cleared and IsWakeWordEnabled returns to false.

Checking State

if (aiService.IsWakeWordEnabled)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Listening for: {aiService.WakeWord}");
}

Constraints

• Only one wake word at a time — calling StartWakeWord() while already active throws InvalidOperationException
• Exclusive with ListenAndTalk — ListenAndTalk() throws InvalidOperationException if wake word is active (they both use the microphone)
• Waits for in-progress work — StartWakeWord() waits for any active TalkTo() call to complete before starting the listener

Example: Settings Toggle

async Task ToggleWakeWord()
{
    if (aiService.IsWakeWordEnabled)
    {
        aiService.StopWakeWord();
    }
    else
    {
        await aiService.StartWakeWord("Hey Copilot");
    }
}

How It Works

Wake word detection is powered by Shiny.Speech’s ISpeechToTextService. The service calls ListenForKeyword() to detect the wake phrase, then ListenUntilSilence() to capture the user’s command. Both are platform-native implementations — no cloud API is needed for the wake word detection itself.

Note

The quality of wake word detection depends on the platform’s speech recognition engine. For best results, use short, distinctive phrases (2-3 words) that are unlikely to occur in background conversation.