> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gnani.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Advanced ASR Settings 

> Control how your voice agent listens, detects, and processes user speech in real-time conversations. 

### **Overview** 

Advanced ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) settings control how your AI voice agent listens and responds to spoken input.\
They define listening limits, silence detection, interruption behavior, and background noise filtering for optimal call experience.

### Location in Platform

**Manage Agent → Customization → Advanced ASR Settings**

> **Note:** These settings apply only to **voice channels**. They do not affect chat or text-based agents.

### **Available Settings** 

| **Setting**                             | **Description**                                                                      |
| :-------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Max Speech Duration**                 | Maximum duration (in seconds) the agent will listen to a single user input           |
| **Initial Silence Timeout**             | Time to wait for the user to start speaking before cancelling                        |
| **End Silence Timeout**                 | Time to wait after user stops speaking before finalizing the input                   |
| **Speech Segmentation Silence Timeout** | Mid-speech silence duration used to split long speech into segments                  |
| **Allow Interruptions**                 | Lets the user speak over the agent; the agent stops speaking and listens immediately |
| **Interrupt Initial Message**           | Allows interruptions during the agent’s very first message in a call or interaction  |
| **Background Noise Filtering**          | Adjusts sensitivity to background sounds to reduce false interruptions               |

## **How Each Setting Works** 

### **1. Max Speech Duration** 

**Description:** Specifies how long the agent will listen to user input in one stretch before automatically stopping. 

**Use Case:** Prevents prolonged listening due to background noise or over-talking. Ensures the agent maintains a responsive, controlled interaction. 

### **2. Initial Silence Timeout** 

**Description:** Defines how long the agent will wait for the user to begin speaking at the start of a turn. If the user remains silent beyond this threshold, input is cancelled or retried. 

**Use Case:** Useful when users are unsure, distracted, or take time to process the prompt. Prevents the system from hanging indefinitely.  

### **3. End Silence Timeout** 

**Description:** Sets the duration of silence after the user stops speaking, after which the agent considers the input complete and proceeds. 

**Use Case:** Allows for natural pauses while still keeping the interaction smooth. Essential for avoiding premature cutoff. 

### **4. Speech Segmentation Silence Timeout** 

**Description:** When users speak in long sentences or paragraphs, this setting helps break the input into segments based on silence detection. Particularly useful for streaming ASR or multi-sentence inputs. 

**Use Case:** Improves comprehension and reduces memory load on the model by processing inputs in manageable chunks. 

### **5. Allow Interruptions**

**Description:** When enabled, the agent will stop speaking and immediately listen when the user starts talking.\
**Use Case:** Creates a more natural, back-and-forth conversation where users can cut in.

### 6. Interrupt Initial Message

**Description:** When enabled (and **Allow Interruptions** is ON), the agent will also allow interruptions during its very first message.\
**Use Case:** Lets impatient users respond immediately, even during the greeting.

### 7. Background Noise Filtering

**Description:** Controls how sensitive the interruption feature is to background sounds.\
Low sensitivity (closer to 20): More likely to trigger on quiet sounds, including unwanted noise.\
High sensitivity (closer to 100): Better at ignoring noise like traffic or barking but may miss very soft speech.\
**Use Case:** Reduce false triggers while balancing responsiveness.

### Recommendations

* Use **shorter timeouts** for transactional bots (e.g., booking, verification).
* Use **longer timeouts** for support scenarios, complex discussions, or with elderly users.
* Enable **Segmentation** when expecting detailed or multi-part answers.
* Enable **Allow Interruptions** for more natural, human-like interactions.
* Adjust **Background Noise Filtering** based on the expected environment.