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

# Configure Agent Experience

> Fine-tune realistic conversation dynamics, background noise, filler words, responsiveness, and idle call timeouts

The **Experience** settings govern the real-time conversational behavior and operational boundaries of your voice AI agent. While Persona dictates *what* your agent says, Experience defines *how human and responsive* the conversation feels — from ambient office background sounds and conversational filler words to idle pulse checks and maximum duration cutoffs.

## Video Walkthrough

<div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 62.7906976744186%; height: 0;">
  <iframe src="https://www.loom.com/embed/a1fad8b0be694a529530f60ac1569ac5" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" />
</div>

## Core Experience Dimensions

Configuring agent experience centers around two critical areas:

1. **Conversational Feel (Audio Realism & Pacing)**
   * **Background Noise**: Realistic ambient overlays (office, call center, cafe) with volume calibration and preview.
   * **Filler Words**: Natural human speech markers (*"um"*, *"uh"*, *"you know"*, *"got it"*) to avoid robotic silence during reasoning.
   * **Eagerness to Speak**: Responsiveness dial balancing rapid conversational turn-taking with token economy.

2. **Call Operations & Inactivity Management**
   * **Idle Pulse Checks**: Checking in on quiet callers after an initial silence gap (e.g., 15 seconds) before gracefully hanging up.
   * **Max Call Duration**: Safety ceiling limiting call length, featuring automated countdown warnings or human agent escalation.
   * **Voicemail & Answering Machine Detection**: Determining whether to leave a custom recorded message or disconnect immediately.

***

## Step-by-Step Configuration

<Steps>
  <Step title="Navigate to Experience Settings">
    In the dashboard, open **Agent Config** → select your agent → navigate to the **Experience** tab.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set Ambient Background Noise">
    Add subtle ambient noise so the agent doesn't sound like it is in a vacuum:

    * **Toggle Background Noise**: Enable the ambient overlay.
    * **Sound Presets**: Choose a preset such as `Office`, `Call Center`, or `Quiet Room`.
    * **Volume Calibration**: Set the volume slider (typically 10%–25%) and use the **Preview** button to test how the voice blends with the room tone.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure Filler Words & Natural Flow">
    Make the agent sound spontaneous during live turn-taking:

    * **Enable Filler Words**: Select how frequently the agent uses hesitation sounds.
    * **Custom Word List**: Customize the preferred conversational fillers (e.g., `["sure", "let me see", "um", "alright"]`).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Balance Eagerness to Speak">
    Select how quickly the agent begins answering once the caller finishes speaking:

    * **Fast**: Minimizes turn-taking latency for snappy, fast-paced dialog. Uses more speculative tokens.
    * **Balanced (Recommended)**: Gives natural cadence, allowing callers to pause briefly without being interrupted.
    * **Slow**: Patiently waits for callers who speak deliberately or pause frequently.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure Idle Behavior & Pulse Checks">
    Handle moments when a caller goes quiet or puts the call on hold:

    * **Pulse Check**: If no speech is detected after 15 seconds, the agent plays a friendly prompt (e.g. *"Are you still there?"* or *"Did I lose you?"*).
    * **Auto Hang-up**: If silence continues for an additional 20 seconds, the agent plays a closing message and ends the call.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set Max Call Duration & Escalation">
    Protect your telephony budget and handle lengthy conversations:

    * Set the **Maximum Duration** limit (e.g., 15 or 30 minutes).
    * Provide a warning message 15 seconds before the hard stop.
    * Choose whether to terminate the call or trigger a **Human Transfer** to an operator.
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The background noise is overpowering the agent's voice">
    Lower the background noise volume slider to between 10% and 15%. Ambient noise should sit softly in the background to mask dead air without competing with vocal clarity.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The agent interrupts callers who take a brief pause">
    Adjust your **Eagerness to Speak** setting to `Balanced` or `Slow`, and increase the silence threshold by 200–400ms in your Persona settings.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The agent hangs up too quickly when placed on hold">
    Increase the `idle_call_hangup_timeout` setting under Idle Conversation Settings to 45–60 seconds, or disable `end_conversation_on_idle` for support-oriented workflows where customers frequently look up account details.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do Experience changes require retraining or re-embedding?">
    No. Unlike Knowledge Bases, Experience settings update instantaneously on all subsequent calls without any re-indexing delay.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

## Next Step

<Card title="Create a Knowledge Base" icon="book-open" href="/getting-started/create-kb">
  Train your agent with custom documents, FAQs, and safety guardrails
</Card>


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