Skip to main content

Conversation Timing

Turn Detection Eagerness​

Controls how quickly the AI detects when the user has finished speaking.

Options:

  • High (most responsive): The agent responds quickly, which feels snappy but may occasionally interrupt if the customer pauses mid-sentence. This is the default.
  • Medium (balanced): A balanced approach that waits a bit longer before responding.
  • Low (most patient): The agent waits longer to ensure the customer is truly finished speaking. Use this if customers frequently get interrupted.

When to adjust:

  • If customers complain about being interrupted, lower the eagerness
  • If conversations feel slow or awkward due to long pauses, increase the eagerness
  • For customers who speak slowly or take pauses while thinking, use Low

Default: High

Initial Mute Duration​

Duration in milliseconds to keep the caller muted at the start of the conversation.

This allows your agent to introduce itself without interruption, which is especially useful for:

  • Longer greeting messages
  • Agents that provide important upfront information
  • Scenarios where you want to ensure the introduction is heard completely

Measure your introduction to find the right duration.

Example values:

  • 0 - No mute (customer can speak immediately)
  • 5000 - 5 seconds (recommended for standard greetings)
  • 8000 - 8 seconds (for longer introductions)

Default: 0 (disabled)

Silence Timeout​

Controls how long the agent waits in silence before attempting to re-engage the caller.

When neither the caller nor the agent has spoken for the configured duration, the agent is prompted to evaluate the situation and decide whether to check in — for example, asking if the caller is still there, repeating the last question, or offering help.

Default: 9 seconds

When to adjust:

  • If callers frequently need time to look something up, increase the timeout to avoid unnecessary interruptions
  • If dead air feels awkward or callers often go quiet unexpectedly, lower the timeout so the agent re-engages sooner
note

The silence timer only runs during active calls. It pauses while the agent is speaking, processing a response, or waiting for a function call to complete.