Turn detection decides when one participant in a spoken conversation has finished and the other may respond. It may use silence, words, intonation, timing, or model-based semantic cues. Good turn detection reduces awkward gaps and interruptions without treating every pause, filler word, or background sound as a handoff.
What signals can mark the end of a turn?
Systems combine voice activity detection, silence duration, transcript structure, prosody, and task context. No single pause length works for every caller or language. A short answer such as “yes” can be complete immediately, while a multi-part address may contain several legitimate pauses. Semantic VAD adds a model based completeness estimate.
How should turn detection be evaluated?
Track false interruptions, delayed responses, abandoned turns, and corrections across realistic calls. The right setting balances the cost of cutting in against the cost of waiting. Test barge-in separately because input during agent speech has different meaning. In production voice agents, log the signal that ended each turn so regressions can be traced instead of guessed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between VAD and turn detection?
VAD detects whether speech is present. Turn detection decides whether the conversational turn is complete and a response should begin.
Why is turn detection important for voice agents?
Wrong timing either cuts callers off or leaves long silences that make the system feel unresponsive.
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