Alexa voice answer instead of "OK"

Configuration Voice Assistant
1

Hi,

I hope, this question was not solved before, but I could not find anything.
When I tell alexa to do something, it responds with “OK”.
I am sure, it would be possible that it answers with “device xy was turned on” (for example).
But how can this be done?
Best regards and thanks in advance,
Otto

2

How is your HA connected with Alexa?

3

using ha cloud…

4

And now for something completely different.
See my post here.

I haven’t thought of it, but I have Alexa simply respond with a “beep”. And since everything Alexa here is controlled from Node Red, it would be pretty easy to end the flow with an Alexa Text to Speech node to say anything I want in response.

5

hm, hm. I love Monty Python :slight_smile:
but this is really different. hm. I could make alexa not respond with ok or something, but how to make it respond with the changed state? there is no automation for every single entity? they are just announced to amazon/alexa…

6

If you’re using HA cloud, that exposes HA devices to Alexa, so Alexa can control them, but it doesn’t allow you any control over Alexa from HA.

Any possible changes would have to be made in the Alexa app. As far as I know, you can have it say “OK” or nothing at all and that’s it.

One way forward might be to control all your HA devices through routines set up in the Alexa app, then you could have it say anything you like. But you would have to write a routine for every device.

7

hm. sounds like pretty much work :frowning:
I think (but am not really sure or have a link) I have seen videos where alexa reacted like that.

8

As I said above, most of my Alexa commands are handled in Node Red, so it would be really easy to put an Alexa TTS node into the flow. (Change Alexa’s voice response settings to a brief mode, meaning a single “ding”).

9

hm. I am not afraid of installing nodered, but isnt this an additional point-of-break? hm…
I hoped that stuff like this could be done directly in HA… :frowning:

10

Hey Otto - I was looking for the same thing, and I finally found Alexa Media Player (I installed via HACS). It lets you pick an Alexa as a media player, and send it TTS to say. Luckily, it also has some work-arounds to pick the last media player Alexa spoke through.

I have Type 1 Diabetes, and HA has a Dexcom integration so I can monitor my blood glucose levels. I set up and exposed a script through the normal Alexa HA Cloud flow, and that reads the sensor value and says it via TTS through Alexa Media Player. Here’s my script - please keep in mind I’m very new to scripting in HA. The “delay” is something I found while searching around that should give HA time enough to get the correct Alexa that you asked the initial question of.

say_blood_glucose:
  alias: Say Blood Glucose
  mode: single
  icon: mdi:diabetes
  sequence:
  - alias: Get last used media player
    service: alexa_media.update_last_called
  - delay:
      seconds: 1
  - service: notify.alexa_media_last_called
    data:
      message: >-
        Your blood glucose level is {{ states('sensor.dexcom_glucose_value') }} milligrams and {{ states('sensor.dexcom_glucose_trend') }}.
      data:
        type: tts
11

Hi @thedave!
Thanks for your helpful answer, which is nearly what I have been looking for.
But I am searching for a solution where I simply tell alexa to turn on light floor (for example) and alexa answers: light floor was turned on
so without writing an automation for every single light or switch…
Best regards and thanks in advance,
Otto