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Audio Configuration

KNOOP edited this page Aug 27, 2026 · 3 revisions

Audio Configuration

Configure how Ava captures and processes audio from the microphone.

Compatible with Android 5-16.

0.6.4 extends Software Mic Gain to negative values (attenuation) and splits recording device routing out from the System Recording Mode. 0.6.5 added smart echo cancellation with room-matched strength levels (Light / Standard / Strong / Adaptive). 0.6.6 added on-device noise suppression and echo cancellation preview recording. 0.7.3 added the Echo-Reference Bus for shared far-end playback reference, software NS strength tiers (WebRTC), and software AEC room type selection.


System Recording Mode

Choose how the microphone captures audio:

Mode Description
Auto select Lets the device choose. Best default
Speech boost Tries to make speech clearer. May change tone
Normal pickup Plain microphone input. Safest choice
Call boost More like call audio. May over-process
Unprocessed Closest to raw input. Good for testing

Audio Processing

Option Description
Noise suppression Use device noise suppressor when available
Automatic gain control Use device AGC when available
Hardware echo cancellation Enable hardware echo cancellation when supported
Software echo cancellation Cancel Ava's own playback from microphone so wake words work during music/TTS playback

Software AEC is recommended when using music playback or TTS. It replaces the device echo canceler while enabled.

Echo Cancellation Strength (0.6.5)

Cancellation strength offers four levels:

Level Description
Light Favors natural speech
Standard Fits most homes
Strong For difficult rooms or louder speakers
Adaptive Automatically adjusts based on playback (default)

Most homes can keep the default Adaptive + Standard setting.

Hear It Yourself: Noise Suppression and Echo Preview (0.6.6)

At the bottom of Smart noise suppression and Echo cancellation, record a short clip and listen on the spot to compare before and after processing. The echo page also offers a quick test. Recorded data stays only on the device.

Path: Ava Settings → Voice → Microphone → Smart noise suppression / Echo cancellation

Software Noise Suppression (0.7.3)

Ava offers two noise suppression systems — hardware and software — and they are mutually exclusive. Enabling one turns the other off automatically.

System Engine When to Use
Hardware NS Android platform NoiseSuppressor Default; zero CPU cost; available on most devices
Software NS WebRTC NoiseSuppressor When hardware NS is unavailable or produces poor results

Software NS strength:

Strength Description
Light Default for satellite/call; minimal speech thinning
Standard Balanced reduction
Strong Maximum reduction; may thin speech

Path: Settings → Voice Config → Audio → Software noise suppression → Suppression strength

Software AEC Strength (0.7.3)

Controls how aggressively the echo canceler suppresses playback bleed from the microphone:

Strength Description
Light Minimal speech thinning; for quiet rooms
Standard Default; balanced playback bleed removal
Strong Maximum playback bleed removal; may thin speech

Software AEC Room Type (0.7.3)

Controls the adaptive filter tail length — how long a room's echo the canceler can model. Changing this rebuilds the echo canceler state.

Room Description
Small room (Near) Bedroom / study / small soft room
Adaptive (Living) Default home room (living-like)
Open plan Open-plan / hard finishes / kitchen-dining

Pick the room type that best matches where the device is mounted. A longer tail models a bigger, harder room but takes more CPU to converge.

Pause AEC While Speaking (0.7.3)

When enabled, software AEC is temporarily bypassed while mic audio is streaming to Home Assistant (after wake / while the user speaks). AEC resumes afterward. This prevents the adaptive filter from removing the user's own voice when the speaker is not actively playing.

Path: Settings → Voice Config → Audio → Software echo cancellation → Pause while speaking

Hardware / Software AEC Mutex

Hardware AEC and software AEC are mutually exclusive. Enabling one turns the other off automatically.

Echo-Reference Bus (0.7.3)

Software echo cancellation now uses a shared far-end bus. Voice satellite and LAN call paths can hold playback reference simultaneously. Pausing one no longer blinds the other's AEC. This directly addresses intercom echo feedback observed on Xiaomi hardware.

What it does:

  • Multiple consumers (satellite AEC, call AEC) share one playback reference bus
  • A paused consumer no longer blinds another consumer's AEC
  • When several playback sources overlap, reference audio is mixed with proper headroom instead of being clipped by each writer
  • This repairs nonlinear distortion that an adaptive filter could not learn when speech, music, and calls overlapped

Before 0.7.3, if you started a LAN call while music was playing, the call path could grab the echo reference and blind the music AEC — or vice versa. The shared bus fixes this.


Software Mic Gain

Adjust PCM audio before wake word detection and streaming. Range: -24 dB to +24 dB (0.6.4; previously 0-24 dB, positive only).

  • Positive values amplify a quiet input
  • Negative values attenuate a microphone that is too loud or captures too much background noise
  • Default remains 0 dB

Recording Device Routing (0.6.4)

Recording device routing is now a separate choice from the System Recording Mode above (Android's AudioSource mode).

Option Description
Auto Let Android pick the input device
Built-in microphone Force the device's built-in mic
USB microphone Force a connected USB mic, with safe fallback to the default input if the requested USB device is unavailable

Path: Ava Settings → Voice Config → Microphone

Thanks to @lone-baggie for requesting explicit USB microphone selection in #157.


Audio Config Presets

Preset Description
Standard 16kHz Mono Default for voice recognition
Broadcast 48kHz Mono Higher quality capture
Stereo Input 48kHz Stereo recording
Low Latency 16kHz Reduced latency
Voice Call Optimized For voice call use case
Unprocessed Raw 48kHz Raw capture, no processing
Compact 8kHz Lowest bandwidth
CD Quality 44.1kHz High quality
Studio 96kHz Very high quality
Ultra HD 192kHz Maximum quality

Voice Channel

The Voice Channel switch disables all voice input, wake word, and voice assistant threads. Service restart required to apply.


Continuous Conversation

Continuous conversation lets you issue multiple commands without saying the wake word each time.

How It Works

  1. Say wake word + first command
  2. After Ava responds, automatically enters listening mode
  3. Say next command directly (no wake word needed)
  4. After 10 seconds of silence, exits continuous conversation mode

End Conditions

Mode Description
Exit Keyword Stop End when the assistant says goodbye or farewell phrases (default)
Question Mark Continue Keep listening only if the reply ends with "?"; stop after other replies

How to Enable

  1. Go to Settings -> Interaction
  2. Turn on Continuous Conversation switch
  3. Choose end condition mode

Conversation Subtitles

Conversation subtitles display what you said and Ava's response on screen as a floating window.

How to Enable

  1. Go to Settings -> Interaction
  2. Turn on Floating Subtitle switch

Mute Mode

Mute mode turns off the microphone, Ava won't respond to any wake words.

How to Enable

Method 1: In Settings

  1. Go to Settings -> Voice Config
  2. Turn on Mute switch

Method 2: Home Assistant Control

service: switch.turn_on
target:
 entity_id: switch.your_device_name_mute

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