Fact · Voice privacy and security
0.40activations per hour
In the 2020 study, the second-generation Amazon Echo Dot averaged 0.40 activations per hour across all the TV shows tested, tied with the Harman Kardon Invoke for the most activations of the devices tested.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
In the source's own words
“the Invoke/Cortana and Echo Dot 2nd generation with ... (0.40 activations per hour), followed by Homepod (0.38 activations per hour)”
When Speakers Are All Ears: Characterizing Misactivations of IoT Smart Speakers, Daniel J. Dubois et al., Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS 2020), 2020, Key findings.
Open the original- What it measures
- The researchers played 125 hours of Netflix content to smart speakers in a lab and counted each activation that happened without the wake word. The devices tested were Google Home Mini, Apple HomePod, a Harman Kardon Invoke with Cortana, and Amazon Echo Dot 2nd and 3rd generation.
- What it does not show
- Lab test with TV audio, on devices from 2019 and 2020. It shows how often a device wakes up on television sound, not how often an Echo wakes up in a home.