Are min_interruption_words and min_interruption_duration mutually exclusive?

Agents
1

This question originally came up in our Slack community and the thread has been consolidated here for long-term reference.

Are min_interruption_words and min_interruption_duration mutually exclusive parameters?

2

No, they are not mutually exclusive. Both parameters can be used together and serve different purposes in the interruption detection system.

How they work:

  • min_interruption_duration checks if the user’s speech has lasted long enough (in seconds) before triggering an interruption. This operates at the VAD level (raw audio detection).

  • min_interruption_words checks if the user has spoken enough words before allowing an interruption. This operates at the STT level (transcribed text).

How they work together:

  1. During VAD inference: Only min_interruption_duration is checked
  2. During audio activity interruption: Only min_interruption_words is checked (when STT is available)
  3. At end of turn: min_interruption_words is checked again to prevent interruption if the transcript is too short

This allows for nuanced control - you can require both a minimum duration of speech AND a minimum number of words before allowing an interruption.