Linux 5.5 Adding Wake-On-Voice Support - Capable On Some Chromebook Hardware

As part of the sound subsystem updates coming with the Linux 5.5 kernel is wake-on-voice capabilities with newer Google Chromebook device hardware.

Thanks to integration with the Google embedded controller (EC), the wake-on-voice functionality can work while the screen is off. In the Chromebook spectrum, this is part of the Google Assistant integration while these Linux 5.5 kernel bits are just about the low-level pieces.

The Wake-On-Voice (WoV) feature with Linux 5.5 is the bits needed for the Google "Cros" EC, Mediatek MT6358 SoC, and Mediatek MT8183 SoC, and RT5677 codec. User-space is responsible for supplying the language model to the EC codec and the "hot word" for activity, among other integration.

The sound updates also include fixes to the Sound Open Firmware support, Intel Cannonlake support with RT1011/RT5682 hardware, NVIDIA DP MST support, and various other audio driver improvements.