Author Archives: Praveen Chandran

New updates make Google Assistant even more accessible

Becky Tyler is a young adult with cerebral palsy. She cannot speak on her own and has difficulties controlling her muscle movements. But this hasn’t stopped her from doing what she loves. Becky is an avid gamer, she runs her own YouTube channel and loves acting and dancing. She’s also an advocate for equality and inclusion. With the support of assistive technologies for communication from companies like Tobii Dynavox, she’s able to express her creative voice and pursue her dreams.

For International Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Awareness Month, we’re bringing Google Assistant to Tobii Dynavox’s applications and services that will help people like Becky gain even more independence and empower them to do things like control smart devices and appliances around their homes.  

Tobii Dynavox Snap Core First software—available on Tobii Dynavox’s dedicated tablets and mobile apps—has a preconfigured set of tiles for users to communicate about everyday things and is accessible through touch, eye gaze and scanning. By integrating Google Assistant with Tobii Dynavox’s technology, Becky can now easily assign a tile to a Google Assistant action, allowing her to control compatible smart home devices and appliances, like lights, thermostats, TVs and more, that have been set up in the Google Home app. Tiles can also be configured to get answers from Google Assistant to questions like “What’s the weather?” or “What’s on the calendar for today?”

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We’ve also worked closely with Tobii Dynavox to make this experience easy to set up. First, create a Google account and set up a smart speaker or smart display in the Google Home app on Android or iOS. After providing access to the Snap Core First app, you can then configure tiles by selecting a button in edit mode, tapping on “Add action” and then tapping on “Send Google Assistant command.”

Becky and others looking to use this technology can also benefit from Action Blocks, which rolled out last May. Action Blocks make it easier for people who have a cognitive disability to use Android phones and tablets with the help of Google Assistant by introducing customizable buttons on their home screens that can complete actions like calling a parent, turning on the lights, or watching a favorite show with one tap. Starting today, Tobii Dynavox’s library of tens of thousands of Picture Communication Symbols can now be used to create Action Blocks buttons, so that people who might be accustomed to assistive technology for communication can use a familiar interface on their Android phones and tablets. 

Google Assistant has always been designed with accessibility in mind and to help everyone be more independent at home. You can find our series of how-to videos with visual and audible directions created for the accessibility community to get the most out of Google Assistant. 


Bringing Google Assistant features to all smart devices

No matter what smart device you use in your living room, kitchen or bedroom, Google Assistant features help you get things done—whether that means listening to your favorite playlist, controlling your smart home devices or checking your schedule. We work closely with all of our third-party partners to make sure your Google Assistant-enabled devices are up to date with the latest security, personalization and helpful features. 

As part of that continued effort to support an open ecosystem and bring Google Assistant features to everyone globally, we’re rolling out some important updates this week to your devices.

Voice Match support to more smart speakers

With Voice Match, you can teach Google Assistant to recognize your voice so you can receive personalized results, including calendar reminders or traffic to work, even if you share the device with other people in the household. You’ll be able to link up to six people’s voices with Voice Match to a single speaker or Smart Display, so the entire family can get personalized help from Google.

Adjust hotword sensitivity

You’ll start to see a new setting in the Google Home app that gives you the option to adjust the responsiveness of the Google Assistant hotword “Hey Google” on your smart speakers and Smart Displays. This will continue to roll out to more devices in the coming weeks.

Choose your default speaker

You can also pick your preferred speaker in your living room for playing music. For example you can say, “Hey Google, play some jazz,” to your Google Nest Mini in the kitchen and the music will automatically play from your preferred speaker. You can set the default music speaker for any Google Assistant-enabled device, by finding the setting menu of your device in the Google Home app. Scroll down to Google Nest Mini and its "Device settings," then tap Default music speaker to choose the living room speaker you want to use when you play music.

As a reminder, there are already many helpful ways to use Google Assistant on all your favorite devices, whether it’s broadcasting a messaging across your other devices when it's time for dinner, playing music to wind down the night, or controlling thousands of available smart home devices with just your voice. 

We know you have many options when it comes to buying smart speakers and we will continue working to ensure that you can experience the best of Google on the device of your choice.  

Ask the Google Assistant to find your keys with Tile

Here's a scenario that happens in my house about three times a week. I'm in a rush to get out the door, and then realize that I can’t find my car keys. I check underneath the sofa cushions, pick through the pockets of my pants from the day before, and turn my bag inside out, only to realize the keys are hiding behind the stack of mail.

Now, the Google Assistant can help me keep track of my keys—it works with Tile to help you quickly find your things just by asking. Tile is a Bluetooth tracker that you can attach to things that are easy to lose  including your keys, wallet or remote. You can use the Assistant on any Nest device, like the Nest Mini or Nest Hub, to ring your Tile, or check your Tile’s last seen location. Ring your Tile by saying: “Hey Google, ring my laptop” or “Hey Google, make my backpack ring”. Or, you can ask the location of your Tile by saying: “Hey Google, where is my purse: or “Hey Google, find my passport.”

If the Tile is at home, you can use your Nest device to determine the last location your Tile was seen. For example, you may get a response like “Your keys were last seen today at 9pm near the Kitchen speaker.” And if you left your Tile somewhere else, the Assistant will tell you the street address of where your Tile was last seen based on Tile’s location services. 

To get started, open up the Google Home app to set up your Tile with the Assistant.