The voice functionality will let customers play and control music on Sonos' whole-home audio platform.

It will be part of a forthcoming software update set to arrive first to customers in the US on 1 June with an international rollout to follow. Sonos Voice will serve as an alternative to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, which Sonos already supports on its smart speakers and voice-enabled soundbars.

At launch, Sonos Voice will work with Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, Deezer, and the company's own Sonos Radio.

Spotify and Google's YouTube Music aren't yet on board.

The feature will not record user audio commands or relay them to the cloud for processing.

You will get the thing to go by saying Hey Sonos" to wake it up. The company said that its tests show it to be quicker than competing assistant services at core music tasks.