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Advanced Voice Settings

Overview​

The Advanced settings allow administrators to fine-tune how a Voice Agent listens, detects speech, handles interruptions, and manages idle conversations.

These settings are intended for environments where the default behavior requires adjustment due to factors such as:

  • Noisy call environments
  • Telephony provider characteristics
  • User interruption preferences
  • Conversation responsiveness
  • Voice experience optimization
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These settings are intended for advanced users. The default values are suitable for most deployments and should only be changed when there is a specific requirement.

Listening & Response​

These settings control how the Voice Agent detects speech and decides when to begin or stop speaking.

Base Response Delay​

Specifies how long the assistant waits before beginning its response after detecting that the customer has finished speaking.

Increasing the delay can make conversations feel more natural by avoiding responses during very brief pauses.

Lower values make the assistant respond more quickly.

Noise Filtering​

Specifies the minimum speech confidence required before incoming audio is treated as human speech.

Higher values make speech detection stricter and help reduce background noise being interpreted as speech.

Lower values make the assistant more sensitive but may result in false detections in noisy environments.

End of Speech Sensitivity​

Specifies the speech confidence below which incoming audio is considered silence.

Lower values allow the assistant to tolerate soft speech and short pauses before assuming the customer has finished speaking.

Higher values cause the assistant to detect the end of speech more aggressively, resulting in faster responses.

Words Required to Interrupt​

Specifies the minimum number of spoken words required before an interruption is accepted.

Higher values reduce accidental interruptions caused by short utterances.

Lower values allow faster interruption.

Voice Required to Pause​

Specifies how long the customer must continuously speak before the assistant stops talking.

Increasing this value helps ignore very brief sounds or accidental speech.

Reducing this value allows the assistant to stop speaking more quickly when interrupted.

Ignore Early Interruptions​

Specifies how long the assistant ignores incoming speech immediately after it begins speaking.

This helps prevent:

  • Echo from the assistant's own voice
  • Microphone feedback
  • Very early accidental interruptions

Increasing this value makes interruptions less sensitive at the beginning of each response.

Interruptions​

These settings control how customers can interrupt the assistant while it is speaking.

Allow User Interruptions​

Determines whether customers are allowed to interrupt the assistant while it is speaking.

When enabled, the assistant continuously listens for interruptions and stops speaking when the interruption conditions are satisfied.

When disabled, the assistant completes its response before listening again.

Interrupt Keywords​

Specifies words or phrases that immediately stop the assistant from speaking without triggering a new response.

Typical examples include:

  • stop
  • wait
  • hold on
  • hang on
  • cancel that
  • never mind

These keywords allow callers to quickly stop the assistant before continuing the conversation.

Ignored Filler Words​

Specifies acknowledgement words that should be ignored while the assistant is speaking.

These are common conversational responses that should not interrupt the assistant.

Typical examples include:

  • okay
  • yeah
  • uh huh
  • mm-hmm
  • got it
  • alright
  • I see

Ignoring these words helps conversations feel more natural by preventing unnecessary interruptions.

Idle Session​

These settings determine how inactive conversations are handled.

Automatically End Idle Conversations​

Determines whether conversations should automatically end after a period of inactivity.

When enabled, the Voice Agent monitors customer inactivity and closes idle conversations automatically.

Maximum Idle Time​

Specifies how long the conversation may remain inactive before it is automatically ended.

Increasing this value allows customers more time before the session expires.

Reducing it helps release system resources sooner.

Warning Before Ending​

Specifies how many minutes before session expiration the assistant should warn the customer.

This gives callers an opportunity to continue the conversation before it is automatically closed.

Best Practices​

The default configuration has been optimized for typical Voice Agent deployments.

Only consider adjusting these settings when:

  • customers frequently interrupt unintentionally
  • background noise causes false speech detection
  • responses feel too early or too delayed
  • conversations are ending prematurely
  • idle sessions need different timeout behavior

In general, make small adjustments and validate the user experience before applying larger changes.