ESPHome Voice Assistant speech output to Home Assistant Media Player

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1

It took me a long time looking at different documentation sources to figure this out, so here it is for anyone who wants to know how to output the response speech from the ESPHome Voice Assistant to a Home Assistant Media Player (not a media player in ESPHome). Here is the fragment of my esphome.yaml:

voice_assistant:
  microphone: mic_i2s
  on_tts_end:
    - homeassistant.service:
        service: media_player.play_media
        data:
          entity_id: media_player.beelink_vlc_2
          media_content_type: music
        data_template:
          media_content_id: "{{ my_url }}"
        variables:
          my_url: return x;

Note that the service:, data:, data_template:, and variables: fields are properties of the esphome homeassistant.service
And that entity_id:, media_content_type:, and media_content_id: are the specific properties of the Home Assistant media_player.play_media service (from Developer Tools → Services)
The voice assistant speech output is "A URL containing the audio response is available to automations as the variable x"

5 Likes
3

does this realy work for you? i nearly tryd everthing. i was just aber to get my nest playing the url. she sias “http…” or my url buit not so soundfile itself. also on my andoid tv or any othe meida player. can any one help?

5

Well,
i did work for a while, but no more. I still get the text-to-speech returned, but it does not output sound on any of my speakers. The debug output is as follows:

tts_output:
  media_id: >-
    media-source://tts/cloud?message=Turned+off+switch&language=en-AU&voice=DarrenNeural&audio_output=mp3
  url: >-
    /api/tts_proxy/0471f16d652b1b75d3cd13faef6e6278da7f3f80_en-au_a49307b37c_cloud.mp3
  mime_type: audio/mpeg

And if I click on the “Play Audio” link below the debug output, it plays sound - on my computer or on my phone. I’ve upgraded ESPhome several times since I posted this solution, I guess some more experimentation is in order…

6

I have a solution - call the Home Assistant tts.cloud_say service from Esphome after the on_tts_start: event. Here is the Esphome yaml code:

on_tts_start:
    - homeassistant.service:
        service: tts.cloud_say
        data:
          entity_id: media_player.your_media_player_id
        data_template:
          message: "{{ my_stt }}"
        variables:
          my_stt: return x;

This sends out the response text to the cloud tts service again, but directs the response mp3 file to a different media player.

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7

unfortunately this does not work for me. When I try it in the developer tools I have to add a target, but I can’t add it to the call in esphome.
Also, “x” contains the URL of the raw audio file / stream, not the response text. So even if it worked, I would expect to head something like “http…”?

8

It is strange. I am using the same yaml and it works as expected without a single problem.

9

Here is my voice assistant config portion is esphome, did I put the home assistant media player in the correct spot?

voice_assistant:
  id: va
  microphone: echo_microphone
  speaker: echo_speaker
  noise_suppression_level: 2
  auto_gain: 31dBFS
  volume_multiplier: 2.0
  vad_threshold: 3
  on_listening:
    - light.turn_on:
        id: led
        blue: 100%
        red: 0%
        green: 0%
        brightness: 100%
        effect: pulse
  on_tts_start:
    - light.turn_on:
        id: led
        blue: 0%
        red: 0%
        green: 100%
        brightness: 100%
        effect: pulse
    - homeassistant.service:
        service: tts.cloud_say
        data:
          entity_id: media_player.announcements
        data_template:
          message: "{{ my_stt }}"
        variables:
          my_stt: return x;
  on_end:
    - delay: 100ms
    - wait_until:
        not:
          speaker.is_playing:
    - script.execute: reset_led
  on_error:
    - light.turn_on:
        id: led
        blue: 0%
        red: 100%
        green: 0%
        brightness: 100%
        effect: none
    - delay: 1s
    - script.execute: reset_led
    - script.wait: reset_led
    - lambda: |-
        if (code == "wake-provider-missing" || code == "wake-engine-missing") {
          id(use_wake_word).turn_off();
        }
  on_client_connected:
    - if:
        condition:
          switch.is_on: use_wake_word
        then:
          - voice_assistant.start_continuous:
          - script.execute: reset_led
  on_client_disconnected:
    - if:
        condition:
          switch.is_on: use_wake_word
        then:
          - voice_assistant.stop:
          - light.turn_off: led
10

The output on the Home Assistant mediaplayer works for me but at the same time the speaker of the Atoim Echo speaks the same line as well.
Is there any way to stop it doing this or at least mute that small speaker? (without desoldering it)

11

I simply “broke” the configuration of the speaker in my M5Stack Atom Echo, so it does no longer play audio:

speaker:
  - platform: i2s_audio
    id: echo_speaker
#    i2s_dout_pin: GPIO22
#    dac_type: external
#    mode: mono
    dac_type: internal # wrong config to mute speaker
    mode: left # wrong config to mute speaker

Then adding this to my voice_assistant gives me only output on my Sonos speaker

  on_tts_end:
    - homeassistant.service:
        service: media_player.play_media
        data:
          media_content_id: !lambda 'return x;'
          media_content_type: audio/mpeg
          entity_id: media_player.wz_sonos

In an ideal world I would be able to use the build-in mic in the Sonos speaker… but hey, you can’t have everything I guess :wink:

12

A more comprehensive solution, thanks to Amrit Prabhu of smarthomecircle.com, which shows how to direct the tts output to a local voice assistant:

# For an internal voice assistant, use tts.speak to send to tts.piper
# 
  on_tts_start:                                    # this is required to play the output on a media player
    - homeassistant.service:
        service: tts.speak
        data:
          media_player_entity_id: media_player.my_media_player    #replace this with your media player entity id
          message: !lambda 'return x;'
          entity_id: tts.piper                 #replace this with your piper tts entity id.

#
# For a cloud-based voice assistant, use tts.cloud_say to send to Home Assistant Cloud
#
  on_tts_start:
    # send the tts response on a home assistant media player
    - homeassistant.service:
        service: tts.cloud_say
        data:
          entity_id: media_player.my_media_player   #replace this with your media player entity id
          message: !lambda 'return x;'
4 Likes
13

Wasn’t working here either. Finally found after days of searching, just needed to grant the esphome device permission to make Home Assistant service calls. You can do this in the device configuration. Hope this helps

1 Like
14

using “wrong config” only works temporarily, after a short while the i2s buffer runs out and breaks the pipeline until it restarts. i’m sort of lucky i also have a fried echo, or i thought it was, but it’s only the speaker that is dead so that fixed that problem for me, yet we do need that option to define the output device, not everyone have half-fried echo’s…

also thought of setting volume of speaker to 0, but thats not a option for speaker, sadly i think we just have to wait and hope they start thinking OUT of the assistant box and realize input and output doesn’t have to be the same device…

17

has anyone still got this working?

if so can you please post your config as i’m having no luck at all.
my HomePod pauses the current playing media but nothing plays.

18

Yes - I just got it working using the on_tts_start example in this thread although I’m using an Amazon echo rather than a HomePod. For an Echo, one must set the public URL for accessing HA in the Alexa MediaPlayer integration. Does HomePod have something similar ?

Here is my ESPHome yaml for an NodeMCU-ESP32S board - note that this is NOT original but code for the Atom M5 box + the code in this thread. It does still need a few tweaks - this still uses the attached speaker. If I exclude the speaker from the voice_assistant declaration, the board reboots before sending the text to the Echo. I also thing the esp-adf PR5230 is invalid now but somehow the latest esp-adf code was downloaded to my system and it builds ok. I don’t really know how that happened… At the end of the day, this whole pipeline needs some more formal treatment by people that know better.

esphome:
  name: nodemcu-esp-32s
  friendly_name: NodeMCU ESP-32S

esp32:
  board: esp32dev
  framework:
    type: esp-idf
    version: recommended

logger:
#  level: VERBOSE

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
  encryption:
    key: <key>

ota:
  password: <key>

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "Nodemcu-Esp-32S Fallback Hotspot"
    password: "T18wj5zTcPbM"

captive_portal:

web_server:
  port: 80

button:
  - platform: factory_reset
    id: factory_reset_btn
    name: Factory reset    

light:
  - platform: status_led
    id: gpio2_light
    name: "Status led"
    pin: GPIO2

  - platform: esp32_rmt_led_strip
    id: led
    name: None
    disabled_by_default: true
    entity_category: config
    pin: GPIO22
    default_transition_length: 0s
    chipset: WS2812
    num_leds: 1
    rgb_order: grb
    rmt_channel: 0
    effects:
      - pulse:
          name: "Slow Pulse"
          transition_length: 250ms
          update_interval: 250ms
          min_brightness: 50%
          max_brightness: 100%
      - pulse:
          name: "Fast Pulse"
          transition_length: 100ms
          update_interval: 100ms
          min_brightness: 50%
          max_brightness: 100%

i2s_audio:
  - id: i2s_out
    i2s_lrclk_pin: GPIO26
    i2s_bclk_pin: GPIO27
  - id: i2s_in
    i2s_lrclk_pin: GPIO19
    i2s_bclk_pin: GPIO18

speaker:
  - platform: i2s_audio
    id: echo_speaker
    dac_type: external
    i2s_audio_id: i2s_out
    i2s_dout_pin: GPIO14
    mode: mono

microphone:
  - platform: i2s_audio
    adc_type: external
    pdm: false
    id: echo_microphone
    i2s_audio_id: i2s_in
    i2s_din_pin: GPIO23

voice_assistant:
  id: va
  microphone: echo_microphone
  speaker: echo_speaker
  noise_suppression_level: 2
  auto_gain: 31dBFS
  # volume_multiplier: 2.0
  vad_threshold: 3
  on_listening:
    - light.turn_on:
        id: led
        blue: 100%
        red: 0%
        green: 0%
        effect: "Slow Pulse"
  on_stt_vad_end:
    - light.turn_on:
        id: led
        blue: 100%
        red: 0%
        green: 0%
        effect: "Fast Pulse"
  on_tts_start:
    - light.turn_on:
        id: led
        blue: 50%
        red: 0%
        green: 50%
        brightness: 100%
        effect: none
    - homeassistant.service:
        service: tts.speak
        data:
          media_player_entity_id: media_player.office_black    #replace this with your media player entity id
          message: !lambda 'return x;'
          entity_id: tts.piper                 #replace this with your piper tts entity id.

  on_end:
    - delay: 100ms
    - wait_until:
        not:
          speaker.is_playing:
    - script.execute: reset_led
  # on_tts_end:
  #   - homeassistant.service:
  #       service: media_player.play_media
  #       data:
  #         entity_id: media_player.office_black
  #         media_content_id: !lambda 'return x;'
  #         media_content_type: music
  #         announce: "true"
  #   - script.execute: reset_led
  on_error:
    - light.turn_on:
        id: led
        red: 100%
        green: 0%
        blue: 0%
        brightness: 100%
        effect: none
    - delay: 1s
    - script.execute: reset_led
  on_client_connected:
    - if:
        condition:
          switch.is_on: use_wake_word
        then:
          - voice_assistant.start_continuous:
          - script.execute: reset_led
  on_client_disconnected:
    - if:
        condition:
          switch.is_on: use_wake_word
        then:
          - voice_assistant.stop:
          - light.turn_off: led

binary_sensor:
  - platform: gpio
    pin:
      number: GPIO0
      inverted: true
    name: Button
    disabled_by_default: true
    entity_category: diagnostic
    id: echo_button
    on_multi_click:
      - timing:
          - ON for at least 250ms
          - OFF for at least 50ms
        then:
          - if:
              condition:
                switch.is_off: use_wake_word
              then:
                - if:
                    condition: voice_assistant.is_running
                    then:
                      - voice_assistant.stop:
                      - script.execute: reset_led
                    else:
                      - voice_assistant.start:
              else:
                - voice_assistant.stop
                - delay: 1s
                - script.execute: reset_led
                - script.wait: reset_led
                - voice_assistant.start_continuous:
      - timing:
          - ON for at least 10s
        then:
          - button.press: factory_reset_btn

switch:
  - platform: restart
    name: "Restart"
  
  - platform: template
    name: Use wake word
    id: use_wake_word
    optimistic: true
    restore_mode: RESTORE_DEFAULT_ON
    entity_category: config
    on_turn_on:
      - lambda: id(va).set_use_wake_word(true);
      - if:
          condition:
            not:
              - voice_assistant.is_running
          then:
            - voice_assistant.start_continuous
      - script.execute: reset_led
    on_turn_off:
      - voice_assistant.stop
      - lambda: id(va).set_use_wake_word(false);
      - script.execute: reset_led
  - platform: template
    name: Use listen light
    id: use_listen_light
    optimistic: true
    restore_mode: RESTORE_DEFAULT_ON
    entity_category: config
    on_turn_on:
      - script.execute: reset_led
    on_turn_off:
      - script.execute: reset_led        

script:
  - id: reset_led
    then:
      - if:
          condition:
            - switch.is_on: use_wake_word
            - switch.is_on: use_listen_light
          then:
            - light.turn_on:
                id: led
                red: 100%
                green: 89%
                blue: 71%
                brightness: 60%
                effect: none
          else:
            - light.turn_off: led        

external_components:
  - source: github://pr#5230
    components:
      - esp_adf
    refresh: 0s

esp_adf:
19

I’m new to Home Assistant and ESPHome, and I’m not sure where the yaml goes in my config, or if I need to add other keys.

Does the on_tts_start key need to be nested within another key? If so, how would I know what key that is, and what other keys are required to be nested within that key?

Thanks in advance for any help.

20

Not sure if you got this working but I just add the on_tts_end part, I don’t have the on_tts_start in my config and it works perfectly with my Korvo-1, see below. Don’t forget to enable to configure the device to allow it to make action (service) calls as stated a few posts up…


  on_tts_stream_start:
    - lambda: id(voice_assistant_phase) = ${voice_assist_replying_phase_id};
  on_tts_end:
    - homeassistant.service:
        service: media_player.play_media
        data:
          entity_id: media_player..output_speaker
          media_content_id: !lambda 'return x;'
          media_content_type: music
          announce: "true"
  on_tts_stream_end:
    - lambda: id(voice_assistant_phase) = ${voice_assist_idle_phase_id};
  on_end: