Asr

This help page is for Desktop Studio. This information is also available for CXone Studio.

Allows you to capture a value provided by a contact and store it in a script variable. This variable can be used for further script routing and other purposes.

Asr is the most flexible of the ASRClosed Allows contacts to respond to recorded voice prompts by speaking, pressing keys on their phone, or a combination of both. actions and can be used instead of the more specialized actions when additional flexibility is needed. However, this action requires you to provide your own phrase list or grammar file whereas the special purpose actions typically include a built-in file for processing and recognizing the caller's utterances.

ASR actions appear only if ASR is enabled for your organization. ASR is an optional feature. Ask your CXone Account Representative for more information.

Dependencies

  • In pronouncing numbers, "negative" is hard-coded.

  • In pronouncing numbers, "point" is hard-coded.

Supported Script Types

Phone

Input Properties

These properties define data that the action uses when executing.

Property

Description

Caption

Enter a short phrase that uniquely identifies this action in the script. The caption appears on the script canvas under the action icon. The default is the action name.

Sequence

Define the prompt that the action plays. A prompt can be a prerecorded WAV audio file or text-to-speechClosed Allows users to enter recorded prompts as text and use a computer-generated voice to speak the content. (TTS).

If the prompt is an audio file, enter the file name enclosed in double quotes. For example, "greeting.wav". If the audio file is located in a different folder, include the path to the file. For example, if the script is in the root folder and the audio file is in a subfolder two levels down, enter "Subfolder\Subfolder2\Audio-file.wav". If the script is in a subfolder one level down from the root and the audio file is in a different subfolder on the same level, enter "\..\Subfolder\Audio-file.wav".

If the prompt is text-to-speech, enter the text you want the TTSClosed Allows users to enter recorded prompts as text and use a computer-generated voice to speak the content. service to read. Each segment must be enclosed in double quotes and include a string reference character to identify the type of information it is. For example: 

"%Your account balance is" "silence.wav"  "${accountBalance}"

For more information about formatting prompts in this property, including the string reference prefix characters to use, see the Prompts page. Some actions with the Sequence property have access to the sequence editor, which is a graphical interface you can use to create prompts. This action doesn't access this editor. However you can use the sequence editor from an action that supports it, such as Play. Add Play to your script and create your prompt sequence. Paste the sequence text from the Sequence field in Play into this action and then delete Play.

Phrase

Use this property to document the text the prompt contains. This property is not used by the script. Because some prompts can be complex and contain multiple segments, it can be helpful to include the text written without the formatting required by the Sequence field.

HighConfidence When the ASR engine recognizes a phrase spoken by a caller, it also returns a percentage that indicates how confident it is in a voice recognition match. The script compares this recognition percentage to the value in this property, and if the percentage is equal or greater to the value, the OnHighConfidence branch is taken. Enter a whole number between the MinConfidence value and 100.

The default value is 70.

MinConfidence Defines the minimum acceptable confidence percentage for a recognition match. If the recognition percentage is between this value and the HighConfidence value, the OnMedConfidence branch is taken, which typically lets the contact confirm the ASR understanding of an utterance. If the recognition percentage is less than this value, the OnNoConfidence branch is taken. Enter a whole number between 1 and the HighConfidence value.

The default value is 50.

TimeoutSeconds

Determines how long the IVRClosed Automated phone menu that allows callers to interact through voice commands, key inputs, or both, to obtain information, route an inbound voice call, or both. waits for input (either spoken or by key-press) before it takes the OnTimeout branch. This is the threshold for complete silence on the line. The default value is 10 (seconds). To change it, enter a whole number.

The timer starts only when the prompt is completely finished. However, the system has a built-in limit of two minutes (120 seconds) that includes the duration of the prompt. If this limit is reached during an action, any active prompts are aborted and the OnError branch is taken. For this reason, you should know the duration of your prompts and set a value for this field that ensures the action is active for less than two minutes.

ResultVarName Determines the name of the variable that holds the recognized result of the contact's spoken or manually entered input. For example, if the prompt asked the contact to say or enter their date of birth, the result would be stored in the variable defined by this property. The default value is the name of the action + "Result" (for example, ASRDIGITSResult). If the contact provides spoken input and the ASR engine fails to find a match, this variable is not populated. Note that if the action has an OnDTMF branch, you must use a Capture action to pull a variable value out of the buffer (DTMF values are automatically stored in a buffer).
ConfidenceVarName Determines the name of the variable that holds the confidence percentage returned by the ASR engine. The default value is ASRConf.
DetectDTMF

Allows you to configure an IVR script to handle both spoken and manually-entered DTMFClosed Signaling tones that are generated when a user presses or taps a key on their telephone keypad. input.

If the value is True, both voice and DTMF input is accepted. If the contact presses a DTMF digit, the script immediately stops any in-progress prompt sequence and takes the OnDTMF branch. No spoken utterances are considered for the duration of the action.

If the value is False, DTMF input is not recognized even if the contact presses a key. Although any DTMF digits pressed during the action are saved in the DTMF buffer, the action takes the NoConfidence branch.

This action has an OnDTMF branch, therefore any DTMF entries by a contact will result in taking this branch. Any variables resulting from the DTMF selection will not be passed along this branch. Therefore, you must use a Capture action on the OnDTMF branch to capture and pass variables from the DTMF input.

ClearDigits

When a contact presses a key on their telephone keypad, the generated DTMF tone is stored in a buffer. When ClearDigits is set to True, that buffer is cleared at the beginning of this action. If set to False and DTMF tones are carried over to this action in the buffer, the DTMF tones are detected immediately. The action then invokes the OnDigit or OnDTMF branch, even if the key press was associated with an earlier action.

Yes/True is the default value.

ContentType Specifies how the ASR engine should identify utterances provided by callers during this action. The ASR engine compares the caller's utterance to the values in the specified content type. If a match is detected, the engine returns the match and a percentage value indicating its confidence in the accuracy of the match. Choose one of the following from the drop-down: PhraseList or GrammarFile. The default value is PhraseList.
PhraseList Allows you to build a phrase list for the action. Click the ellipsis and type each phrase on a separate line in the String Editor window.
GrammarFile

Allows you to provide the path to the grammar fileClosed Encoded file containing a set of phrases a caller might say in response to an IVR prompt. specified in the ContentType property. Grammar files must be properly formatted and stored in your platform files. You can create custom grammar files using Studio actions or third-party tools.

Result Branch Conditions

Result branch conditions allow you to create branches in your script to handle different outcomes when an action executes.

Condition

Description

Default Path taken unless the script meets a condition that requires it to take one of the other branches. It is also taken if the action's other branches are not defined.
OnHighConfidence Path taken if confidence levels are above the value set in the High Confidence property field.
OnMedConfidence Branch taken if the recognition percentage returned by the ASR engine is between the HighConfidence value and the MinConfidence value. This branch is often used to allow a caller to confirm the information provided using an ASRYESNO action.
OnNoConfidence Path taken if the recognition percentage returned by the ASR engine is less than the MinConfidence value.
OnTimeout Path taken if there is no response for the number of seconds specified.
OnError Path taken when there is an unexpected problem (for example, poor connectivity, syntax errors, and so forth). The _ERR variable should be populated with a condensed explanation of the problem.
OnDTMF Path taken if the DetectDTMF property is set to TRUE and DTMF digits are present in the buffer.

Tips & Tricks

  • You can pass the languageLocale variable from the Voiceparams action, which sets the language that the action will detect.
  • See the ASR overview for more information.
  • DTMF tones are stored in a buffer. If the action contains an OnDTMF or OnDigits branch, the DTMF value must be pulled out of the buffer with a Capture action.
  • If you want to capture multiple DTMF presses, the action immediately takes the OnDTMF branch when the first DTMF is pressed (including * and #). In this instance, you must capture multiple presses with a Capture action.
  • If there are any DMTF present in the buffer and ClearDigits is not set to True, the OnDTMF branch would immediately be taken and require a Capture action.