A caller pauses while spelling an address. A detector has to decide whether to wait for another letter or let the agent answer. Detecting silence alone cannot establish that the caller has finished the thought.
LiveKit documents several approaches: silence-based detection, speech-to-text endpointing, a turn detector that considers meaning and acoustic information, and explicit manual control. These are implementation choices, rather than a single timeout that works for every conversation.
What to test: include pauses inside unfinished answers, completed short answers, and someone speaking while the agent replies. Check premature responses, waiting time, and whether the agent yields appropriately. A listener’s brief acknowledgment may need different handling from a request to stop.
Turn detection fits into the larger pipeline described in how AI voice agents work.
Sources
- LiveKit Docs: Turns overview — Distinguishes VAD, endpointing, semantic completion and interruption handling; checked October 26, 2026.