Google Nest white noise change (low or muffled sound) likely not an intentional behavior, company aware of issue

Google Nest is one of the best smart home lineups that consists of several types of devices such as a smart display, smart speaker, and camera. In the last few years, Google has brought1 several new useful features.

One of them is the white noise feature that allows users to select from various sounds such as spinning fan, generic white, and rainstorm to help people fall asleep.

Having said that, 9to5Google recently reported that the white noise ambient sound on the Nest Hub suddenly changed and many were upset with Google (1,2,3,4,5) over the same.

Users said that either the sound was low with some claiming that it was muffled. Nest owners also said that the sound was playing for a short amount of time before switching to the next one.

Many are now asking Google to revert the white noise back and clarify if this was an intentional change.

We use “play white noise” feature almost daily in a couple of our rooms at night. It consistently plays for 12 hours with a burst every hour. However, starting yesterday, we are seeing a different behavior. It now plays in burts of 10 mins and sounds is much more muffled/ low. We’ve had to jack up the volume to 100% now to get the same effect we had at 50% – 60% previously.
And, this behavior seems intermittent. Meaning, if I unplug the device for a few mins and try again, it seems to revert back to the previous behavior with the same loudness, 1 hr bursts, etc.
(Source)

What’s wrong with the default white noise? It’s sounds all muffled and quiet, like it’s through a wall or something. It’s not my speaker itself, I can play other stuff just fine. It was working perfectly yesterday. Pretty inconvenient, it’s 11:30 and the thing I can’t sleep without is broken🙄. Is it the Sonos lawsuit? My current solution is to have it play this 8 hour pink noise loop, which is almost exactly what the old one sounded like. You have to fiddle with the volume a bit as its either a bit quieter but its good enough until it gets fixed.
(Source)

Thankfully, Google has now acknowledged the issue and said that even they do not have any details on why it changed.

Hi Eric, thanks for the tweet — we’d like to help the best way we can. However, we don’t have any details to share about why the white noise sound of the Google Home was changed. Rest assured that we’re always looking for ways to improve and we’ll take this as feedback.
(Source)

From the looks of it, it seems like users will have to wait a few more days before Google finds out the root cause of the issue and reverts the white noise on Nest devices.

When Google fixes it, we will be updating this space to reflect the same so make sure you stay tuned for more information.

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Google Section so be sure to follow them as well.

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