In the UK alone, almost 50% of 25 to 64-year-olds own a smart speaker according to Statista. It's thought that over 35% of American adults now own one, as reported by news site NPR.

While not eavesdropping on your conversations, the Amazon Echo and Google Home are always listening for their wake words: ‘Alexa’ in the case of the Echo and ‘OK, Google’ or ‘Hey, Google’ in the case of the Google Home unit. They can react quickly to any command you give.

Depending on your smart device, there are various ways to stop it from listening in, which range from turning off the microphone to turning the device off completely.

Smart home secrets that everyone should know