N.O.V.A v2 / documentation
Wake Word
How the assistant stays dormant until it hears its keyword, and what that costs.
The detector
A small model — openWakeWord by default — runs continuously on the raw mic stream. It's cheap enough to run all day: no speech-to-text or language model is loaded until it fires.
Mic stream (always on)→Wake word fires→Load STT + LLM→Listen for command
Using a custom wake word
openWakeWord supports training a custom keyword. Picovoice Porcupine is a paid alternative with an Android SDK, useful if the wake word needs to work on a phone later.
False triggers
- Tune the detection threshold against your own room's noise floor.
- Add a short confirmation chime so you always know when it's actually listening.
- Test deliberately in a noisy room before trusting it in daily use.