Speech Configuration

Timing control for assistant speech

The Speaking Plan and Stop Speaking Plan are essential configurations designed to optimize the timing of when the assistant begins and stops speaking during interactions with a customer. These plans ensure that the assistant does not interrupt the customer and also prevents awkward pauses that can occur if the assistant starts speaking too late. Adjusting these parameters helps tailor the assistant’s responsiveness to different conversational dynamics.

Note: At the moment these configurations can currently only be made via API.

Start Speaking Plan

This plan defines the parameters for when the assistant begins speaking after the customer pauses or finishes.

  • Wait Time Before Speaking: You can set how long the assistant waits before speaking after the customer finishes. The default is 0.4 seconds, but you can increase it if the assistant is speaking too soon, or decrease it if there’s too much delay. Example: For tech support calls, set waitSeconds for the assistant to more than 1.0 seconds to give customers time to complete their thoughts, even if they have some pauses in between.

  • Smart Endpointing: This feature uses advanced processing to detect when the customer has truly finished speaking, especially if they pause mid-thought. It’s off by default but can be turned on if needed. Example: In insurance claims, smartendpointingEnabled helps avoid interruptions while customers think through responses and as they formulate responses. Example: The assistant mentions “do you want a loan,” triggering the system to check the customer’s response. If the customer responds with “yes” (matching the CustomerRegex for “yes|no”), the system waits for 1.1 seconds before proceeding, allowing time for further clarification. For responses requiring number sequences like “What’s your account number?”, set longer timeouts like 5 seconds or more to accommodate pauses between digits.

  • Transcription-Based Detection: Customize how the assistant determines that the customer has stopped speaking based on what they’re saying. This offers more control over the timing. Example: When a customer says, “My account number is 123456789, I want to transfer $500.”

    • The system detects the number “123456789” and waits for 0.5 seconds (WaitSeconds) to ensure the customer isn’t still speaking.
    • If the customer were to finish with an additional line, “I want to transfer $500.”, the system uses onPunctuationSeconds to confirm the end of the speech and then proceed with the request processing.
    • In a scenario where the customer has been silent for a long and has already finished speaking but the transcriber is not confident to punctuate the transcription, onNoPunctuationSeconds is used for 1.5 seconds.

Here’s a code snippet for Start Speaking Plan -

1  "startSpeakingPlan": {
2    "waitSeconds": 0.4,
3    "smartEndpointingEnabled": false,
4    "customEndpointingRules": [
5      {
6        "type": "both",
7        "assistantRegex": "customEndpointingRules",
8        "customerRegex": "customEndpointingRules",
9        "timeoutSeconds": 1.1
10      }
11    ],
12    "transcriptionEndpointingPlan": {
13      "onPunctuationSeconds": 0.1,
14      "onNoPunctuationSeconds": 1.5,
15      "onNumberSeconds": 0.5
16    }
17  }

Stop Speaking Plan

The Stop Speaking Plan defines when the assistant stops talking after detecting customer speech.

  • Words to Stop Speaking: Define how many words the customer needs to say before the assistant stops talking. If you want immediate reaction, set this to 0. Increase it to avoid interruptions by brief acknowledgments like “okay” or “right”. Example: While setting an appointment with a clinic, set numWords to 2-3 seconds to allow customers to finish brief clarifications without triggering interruptions.

  • Voice Activity Detection: Adjust how long the customer needs to be speaking before the assistant stops. The default is 0.2 seconds, but you can tweak this to balance responsiveness and avoid false triggers. Example: For a banking call center, setting a higher voiceSeconds value ensures accuracy by reducing false positives. This avoids interruptions caused by background sounds, even if it slightly delays the detection of speech onset. This tradeoff is essential to ensure the assistant processes only correct and intended information.

  • Pause Before Resuming: Control how long the assistant waits before starting to talk again after being interrupted. The default is 1 second, but you can adjust it depending on how quickly the assistant should resume. Example: For quick queries (e.g., “What’s the total order value in my cart?”), set backoffSeconds to 1 second.

Here’s a code snippet for Start Speaking Plan -

1 "stopSpeakingPlan": {
2    "numWords": 0,
3    "voiceSeconds": 0.2,
4    "backoffSeconds": 1                                                                
5  }

Considerations for Configuration

  • Customer Style: Think about whether the customer pauses mid-thought or provides continuous speech. Adjust wait times and enable smart endpointing as needed.

  • Background Noise: If there’s a lot of background noise, you may need to tweak the settings to avoid false triggers. Default for phone calls is ‘office’ and default for web calls is ‘off’.

1  "backgroundSound": "off",
  • Conversation Flow: Aim for a balance where the assistant is responsive but not intrusive. Test different settings to find the best fit for your needs.