> ## 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.
# Sound quality and background noise
> Turn on noise cancellation so your Brilo agent hears callers in noisy places, and add ambient office noise if a silent line sounds artificial.
Two settings in the **Call Settings** block affect how a call sounds. **Advanced Noise Cancellation**
changes what your agent hears from the caller. **Add Background Noise** changes what the caller hears
from your agent. They solve opposite problems and you will usually only want one of them.
## Before you start
* An agent. See [Create your first agent](/agents/create-your-first-agent).
* Five minutes and a phone, ideally somewhere noisy.
* You will be working in the **Call Settings** block of your agent's **Configure** tab.
## Steps
Open your agent, go to **Configure**, and scroll to **Call Settings**.
Switch it on. It applies enhanced noise reduction to the caller's audio, so traffic, a busy shop,
or a car makes less of a mess of what your agent hears.
Leave it on unless you have a reason not to. The cost is negligible and the benefit shows up on
every call from a mobile.
Call your agent from a car, a street, or a room with a television on. Ask a question with a number
in it, like a phone number or a postcode, since that is where mishearing hurts most. See
[Test your agent yourself](/go-live/test-your-agent-yourself).
## You will know it worked when
You call from a noisy place, say a phone number, and your agent reads it back correctly. If it still
mangles words specific to your business, that is vocabulary rather than noise. See
[Teach it names and terms](/knowledge/teach-it-names-and-terms).
## Adding background noise to your side
Some accounts have **Add Background Noise**, which plays quiet ambient sound behind your agent so the
line does not feel unnaturally silent. Turn it on and you get two more controls:
* **Environment.** Either **Office** or **Keyboard typing**.
* **Background Noise Volume.** From 0 to 50 percent, in steps of 10.
Keep it low. 10 or 20 percent reads as a real office. Anything higher competes with your agent and
makes it harder to hear, which is the opposite of what you wanted.
**Add Background Noise** and **Speaking Rate** are not enabled on every account yet. If you cannot see
them in **Call Settings**, they are not available to you, and there is nothing to switch on. Email
[support@brilo.ai](mailto:support@brilo.ai) if you need them.
## What else you can do here
* Fix specific words your agent mishears, which no amount of noise reduction will solve. See
[Teach it names and terms](/knowledge/teach-it-names-and-terms).
* Stop your agent treating background chatter as the caller taking their turn. See
[Pauses, silence and interruptions](/calls/pauses-and-silence).
* Pick a clearer voice, which does more for a caller straining to hear than any setting here. See
[Choose a voice](/agents/choose-a-voice).
## If it did not work
**Your agent still mishears callers.** Noise cancellation cleans the audio, it does not teach your
agent new words. Business names, staff names, drug names, and street names all need adding to the
recognition vocabulary. See [Teach it names and terms](/knowledge/teach-it-names-and-terms).
**The caller sounds distant or clipped.** Noise reduction removes sound, and on a very quiet caller it
can take a little of the voice with it. Turn it off and compare the same call both ways.
**Background noise drowns out your agent.** Lower **Background Noise Volume** to 10 percent, or turn it
off. It is decoration, not a feature worth losing clarity for.
**Callers say the line sounds dead.** That is the silence between turns rather than the audio itself.
Background noise helps if you have it, and a shorter idle nudge helps more. See
[Pauses, silence and interruptions](/calls/pauses-and-silence).
**Audio is choppy or delayed.** That is a connection problem rather than an agent setting, so none of
these switches will help. Contact [support@brilo.ai](mailto:support@brilo.ai) with a call reference.
## FAQ
Two separate causes. Background noise on the caller's end, which **Advanced Noise Cancellation** in
**Call Settings** fixes, and words it has never been taught, which it cannot guess. Add your
business name, staff names, and trade words to the recognition vocabulary. See
[Teach it names and terms](/knowledge/teach-it-names-and-terms).
Yes, in almost every case. Most callers ring from a mobile, often outdoors or in a car, and it
measurably improves what your agent hears. Turn it off only if a very quiet caller sounds clipped.
On accounts that have **Add Background Noise** in **Call Settings**, yes. Choose **Office** or
**Keyboard typing** and set the volume between 0 and 50 percent. Keep it at 10 or 20, because
higher settings compete with your agent's voice.
A little, and only at a low volume. It removes the unnaturally silent line. It does nothing for the
thing callers actually notice, which is how your agent handles being interrupted and whether it
answers the question asked.
Choppy audio, echo, and delays are connection problems rather than agent settings, so noise
cancellation will not fix them. Send a call reference to
[support@brilo.ai](mailto:support@brilo.ai).
Yes. It applies to the caller audio on every call the agent handles, inbound and outbound alike.
## Related
* [Teach it names and terms](/knowledge/teach-it-names-and-terms) for words it keeps mishearing
* [Pauses, silence and interruptions](/calls/pauses-and-silence) for noise triggering false turns
* [Choose a voice](/agents/choose-a-voice) for clarity on a compressed phone line
* [How a call works](/calls/how-a-call-works) for what happens on the line
* [My agent sounds wrong](/agents/my-agent-sounds-wrong) for pronunciation problems