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

# Pauses, silence and interruptions

> Tune how quickly your Brilo agent takes its turn, what it does when a caller goes quiet, and when it ends a call that has gone silent.

Three settings in the **Call Settings** block on your agent's **Configure** tab decide the rhythm of
every call: **Patience Level**, **Check if user is online**, and **Hangup call on user silence**. They
are the difference between an agent that interrupts people and one that leaves dead air.

## Before you start

* An agent. See [Create your first agent](/agents/create-your-first-agent).
* Five minutes, and a phone. These settings can only be judged by hearing them.
* You will be working in the **Call Settings** block of your agent's **Configure** tab.

## Steps

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Call Settings">
    Open your agent, go to **Configure**, and scroll to **Call Settings**. **Patience Level** is the
    first setting in the block.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the patience level">
    Pick how long your agent waits after the caller stops speaking before it replies.

    * **Low.** About 1 second. Snappy, good for quick confirmations, and it will cut people off when
      they pause to think.
    * **Medium.** About 3 seconds. The right default for most businesses.
    * **High.** About 5 seconds. Fewer interruptions and more crosstalk avoided, at the cost of feeling
      slow.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Decide whether it nudges a quiet caller">
    Turn on **Check if user is online** if you want your agent to prompt a caller who has gone quiet.
    Set the idle time, from 5 to 60 seconds, and write the line it should say. The line is required
    when the setting is on.

    Keep it short and human. "Are you still there?" is enough.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set when it gives up">
    **Hangup call on user silence** is how long your agent waits in silence before ending the call, from
    10 to 120 seconds. Set it longer than your idle nudge, so the caller gets prompted before the line
    goes down.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save and call it">
    Save, then call your agent and deliberately pause mid sentence. See
    [Test your agent yourself](/go-live/test-your-agent-yourself).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## You will know it worked when

You call your agent, pause in the middle of a sentence, and it waits for you to finish instead of
jumping in. Then you go silent, get nudged once, stay silent, and the call ends cleanly rather than
hanging open.

## How to choose the numbers

Set the two silence settings together, not separately. The nudge has to come before the hang up or it
never fires.

A safe starting point for most businesses:

| Setting                     | Value          | Why                                                |
| --------------------------- | -------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Patience Level              | Medium         | Callers pause to check a diary or find a card      |
| Check if user is online     | On, 20 seconds | Long enough that a short pause is not interrupted  |
| Hangup call on user silence | 60 seconds     | Gives the caller time to come back after the nudge |

Adjust from there:

* **Callers say it interrupts them.** Move **Patience Level** up one step.
* **Callers say it is slow to answer.** Move **Patience Level** down one step, and expect a few more
  interruptions in exchange.
* **Calls sit open with nobody on them.** Lower **Hangup call on user silence**.
* **Callers get cut off while looking something up.** Raise it, and raise the idle nudge with it.

## What else you can do here

* Let callers cut in over the greeting, so they never have to wait for it to finish. See
  [Set your greeting](/agents/set-your-greeting).
* Improve what your agent hears in a noisy room, which reduces false pauses. See
  [Sound quality and background noise](/calls/sound-quality).
* Cap the total length of a call separately from silence. See
  [Limit how long a call runs](/calls/limit-how-long-a-call-runs).
* Change how much your agent says per turn, which affects perceived pace as much as patience does. See
  [Give your agent a personality](/agents/give-your-agent-a-personality).

## If it did not work

**It still interrupts on High patience.** The caller is probably pausing longer than 5 seconds, which
usually means they are reading something out. Ask your agent in its instructions to say it will wait,
so the caller knows the line is still live. See
[Write what your agent says](/agents/write-what-your-agent-says).

**It feels slow even on Low.** Patience is only part of the delay. A long answer takes longer to
start. Set **Answer Length** to **Concise**, and check **Thinking effort** in the **Advanced** tab,
since higher effort means slower replies. See [Choose your AI model](/agents/choose-your-ai-model).

**The idle nudge never fires.** Either the setting is off, or the hang up time is shorter than the
idle time so the call ends first. Make the hang up time the larger of the two.

**Cannot save Call Settings.** If **Check if user is online** is on, the message is required. Fill it
in and save again.

**Background noise makes it think the caller is talking.** Turn on **Advanced Noise Cancellation**. See
[Sound quality and background noise](/calls/sound-quality).

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Why does my Brilo agent interrupt callers?">
    Its patience level is too low, so it treats a natural pause as the end of a sentence. Open
    **Configure**, find **Patience Level** in **Call Settings**, and move it up a step. Medium waits
    about 3 seconds and High about 5.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How long does my agent wait before it replies?">
    About 1 second on **Low**, 3 seconds on **Medium**, and 5 seconds on **High**. Medium is the right
    default for most businesses.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens when a caller goes silent?">
    With **Check if user is online** on, your agent prompts them after the idle time you set, using the
    line you wrote. If the silence continues past **Hangup call on user silence**, the call ends.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I stop calls hanging open with nobody talking?">
    Lower **Hangup call on user silence** in **Call Settings**. It goes from 10 to 120 seconds. Keep it
    above your idle nudge so callers get prompted before the line drops.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can callers interrupt my agent while it is talking?">
    Yes, and they can interrupt the greeting too, which is on by default. See
    [Set your greeting](/agents/set-your-greeting).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why does my agent reply before I have finished speaking?">
    A low patience level, or a genuinely quiet room where your voice drops below the level it listens
    for. Raise the patience level first, then turn on **Advanced Noise Cancellation** if the caller is
    somewhere noisy.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does the silence timeout count against my call minutes?">
    Yes. A call sitting in silence is still a connected call, which is a good reason not to set the
    hang up time to the maximum. See
    [What counts towards my usage](/account/what-counts-towards-my-usage).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related

* [Set your greeting](/agents/set-your-greeting) for interrupting the opening line
* [Sound quality and background noise](/calls/sound-quality) for noisy callers
* [Limit how long a call runs](/calls/limit-how-long-a-call-runs) for a hard cap on call length
* [Give your agent a personality](/agents/give-your-agent-a-personality) for pace and answer length
* [My agent sounds wrong](/agents/my-agent-sounds-wrong) for pauses and pace complaints