Voice Recognition not working?

Hi everyone,

Last month I bought a 2012 SL, and I'm loving it, EXCEPT: The voice recognition for selecting phone book entries doesn't seem to work. For example, if I say "Call Bob" or "Call Bob Jones" it shows me a list of what seem to be completely random phone book entries from my phone -- none of which seem to have any relation (audibly) to the name I said. This happens even when it's COMPLETELY quiet (parked in the garage, climate control off, etc.). I've tried speaking different volumes and speeds. It DOES let me go through all the voice prompts just fine, and I can say "Dial Number" and then say the numbers just fine... it just can't get the NAMES. Of course I don't remember anyone's actual phone number anymore...

Any ideas what might be going on here?

Thanks!

..bump... anyone else have problems or success with voice recognition for bluetooth phonebook entires?

Yes, I have experienced the same problem, with no successful phonebook name recognition.

Computerizer said:

..bump... anyone else have problems or success with voice recognition for bluetooth phonebook entires?

Click to expand...

Does it even work that way? I'm not so sure it does. Though I'll say that I've never tried.

While in the process of using this feature, try raising the sound level one or two notches up. Maybe it helps in picking up our speech?
I found that in the past, whenever I had lowered the volume during a previous call, this problem came up. I then leave the volume at the upped-level and usually it works pretty well. Still not perfect name recognition, but, definitely helps me/less frustrating. Good luck.

I have trained it for a few functions and its working well. When I move further I could tell Bluetooth call list recognition working or not.

leonowenn said:

I have trained it for a few functions and its working well. When I move further I could tell Bluetooth call list recognition working or not.

Click to expand...

How have you "trained it"? My dealer had mentioned something about training but I can find no such functionality nor any mention of it in the nav manual.

Whenever a gadget is made to work on voice, its called training it. I have not used the technical vocabulary that's a different thing.

Most voice recognition systems in Nissan cars have a Voice Adaptation mode.
However, I can't for the life of me figure out how to enable it. I tried pressing the Voice activation button on the steering wheel for 3 seconds, it made it a beep and flashed a message window that read something like that feature not available.
Very weird.

Sometimes I say phone and the car gives me a route to home. So, I'm certain that simply canceling the command is not actually training the system to adapt to my voice.

iamwjh said:

Most voice recognition systems in Nissan cars have a Voice Adaptation mode.

Click to expand...

Yeah, this is what I was hoping for. The salesman sort of indicated that this would happen automatically but it never seemed to (and he didn't know much about the LEAF anyway). :-(

This is an ongoing problem with the LEAF phone system (I have a 2013). If the name you have on your phone is Mary Smith the cars system automatically reverses it to Smith, Mary. Unless you ask for the name in that order you get that pesky list of unrelated names. They have no date for a fix and just double talk about their potential solutions. If you try reversing the names in your phone to trick the system it will still place it in the phonebook last name first automatically. The only fix is to maually enter the names and numbers you call most often into the car phonebook as opposed to the handset phonebook and enter the whole name on the first line. Good luck.........

I have had the same inability to use voice recognition in general. Where it DOES work for me: navigation to home, and voice phone calls to a specific number. It seems to be very good at recognizing correct digits almost regardless of how fast or sloppy I pronounce them. Where is DOES NOT work for me: everything else from navigation destinations to stored phone numbers.

The unfortunate result for me has been to pretty much not use the voice recognition because it doesn't, and not use the NAV system because of its errors and cumbersome user interface. So, key components of the SL upgrade not really performing acceptably given the cost.

The first voice recognition screen asks for Navigation or Phone
(not Fome, or Home, as far as I know) in the 2011 LEAF.

Does the 2013 LEAF have other options on the first screen?

Then, what options are shown on the Phone screen?
Is there By Number, and By Name?

I do not remember using the word Call, but I could be forgetting.

garygid: In my 2012, there is an option somewhere that lets you tell it to accept any command at any time, rather than just the list of commands on the screen. That's why I can try "call <name>" just after hitting the button.

ret4good: IT WORKS! If I say lastname, firstname, then it does recognize what I say! I thought it would be smarter than that. Silly me. Thank you so much.

It was a bit frustrating trying to get VR to recognize names not realizing at the time that first and last were reversed!!

Anyone having trouble with the system recognizing the word DIAL???? SHEEEESH! Nissan please fix this wart on such a beautiful face!

For the 2013 models, you can run the adaptation mode which will train the voice recognition. Hold the send button till it goes into special functions then press the send button to start the training. I for one can't seem to get it to go to the next prompt in the training after I repeat the words. Anyone else with a 2013 model have that issue?

Edit: figured it out...I went through the help from the regular prompt when pressing the send button one instead of holding it. Then selected voice adaptation and turned off my Bluetooth on my phone when directed. I was able to go through the voice training and finish it. Hope that help for those who have can train their system.

Thanks for the tip. This may be a really stupid question, but what is the "send button"?

"For the 2013 models, you can run the adaptation mode which will train the voice recognition. Hold the send button till it goes into special functions then press the send button to start the training."

OK, I have more information on this.

The 2013 Nissan Leaf S has Voice Adaption Training. It is described in the owner's manual on page 4-55.
The 2013 Nissan Leaf SV and SL do not have any Voice Training.

The 2013 Nissan Leaf owner's manual describes the Nav/Audio system in the model S.
The 2013 Nissan Leaf SV and SL have a separate Nav/Audio manual.

The previous poster "vsiev" referred to a send/voice button. That only exists on the S. The SV and SL have separate send and voice buttons.

I hope that this helps.

Hi all, my first post so pls bare with me...

I too was very frustrated after downloading my iPhone "handset" phonebook to the Leaf. The VR system was too cumbersome - often it came up with an odd collections of entries to choose from, then, once (if) it found the name you were looking for (saying last name, then first...) it requires you to choose which number (office, cell, home, etc.). Between needing to say your kid's name last, then first, and finding random contacts, plus the 23 other folks in your contact list with the same family name, it seemed useless.

To make things worse, the voice recognition system does not recognize or use the "car phonebook" (the one with a max of 5 entries). This is too bad, because this is where you have your 5 most called/favorite numbers: family, home, office, etc.

So, here is a little work around I figured out, that solved the problem:

1. in the settings menu, make sure you turn on "direct command", which allows you to simply push the talk button and say "call Billy".

2. Edit your contact list in you cell phone: in my iPhone contacts list, I made a few "new" contacts, in the last name field only, like "Home", "my office", "Nick cell" (my son's name). With each of these favorite/often called contacts, I gave just the one number I wanted the VR to dial. For instance, if I wanted to also use the VR to call my son at work, I would add a second contact for my his office number - "Nick office", or something I could remember.

3. delete the handset contact you previously downloaded.

4. download your new, improved, edited contact list from your cell phone.

5. now, when I simply push the talk button, I say "call Nick cell" and it finds *only* my son's cell number, then I just need to say dial.

be sure to put whatever name or location to call in the <last name> field only in your contacts list. This is where the VR first looks.

This work around actually works, and I feel like I can use the VR without it finding random contacts, and without going through an exhaustive menu structure.

-Greg

2013 Leaf SV
Delivered 3 July 2013

Bob said:

Thanks for the tip. This may be a really stupid question, but what is the "send button"?

"For the 2013 models, you can run the adaptation mode which will train the voice recognition. Hold the send button till it goes into special functions then press the send button to start the training."

Click to expand...

Sorry for not replying. Didn't know there was a question since I didn't get quoted. The send button I am referring to is the "call/dial" button on the steering wheel.