Why can neither Google Assistant or S Voice understand me when they are activated using the hotword?

[Android Central Question]

S7 edge, Android 7, At&t, Nova Launcher, not rooted.

My concern occurs for both Google Assistant and S Voice (only one of them enabled at a time). When I use the hotwords to activate either assistant the appropriate assistant does open and turn on the mic but when I make my inquiry they either don't hear me at all and timeout or are no where close to what I said. Google sometimes gives a message, either "Google is not available at the moment" or "there is a problem with your mic, try again later". If I press the mic icon in either app they work near flawlessly. Restarting device does not help. Uninstalling Google updates and reinstalling did not help. Clearing Google cache did not help. I have read that other apps in the background could be meddling with the mic but how do I even start to guess which apps to suspect? Any ideas on the general concern or how to narrow down suspected apps? Thanks!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Is the mic obstructed when you use your voice to activate it? For example, I had my phone resting in the cup holder of my car, and tried to dial a number using Assistant -- I could get Assistant to wake up, but it kept mishearing the number. But if I have the phone in its holder on my windshield (with Android Auto turned on), it has no problem. I figured that this was because the primary mic was partially blocked, since it was sitting upright in that cupholder.