# What Is Full-Duplex Voice? Interruptions in AI

Source: https://insertchat.com/glossary/full-duplex-voice

> Full-duplex voice lets both sides talk and listen at once, so a caller can interrupt an AI. Learn how it works, why it matters on calls, and common pitfalls.

Full-duplex voice means both sides of a conversation can speak and listen at the same time, as on a normal phone call. For voice AI, it means the assistant keeps listening while it talks, so a caller can interrupt, correct a detail, or ask something new and the assistant stops to respond instead of finishing a scripted sentence.

## How full-duplex voice works

Half-duplex systems, like a walkie-talkie or a classic phone menu, take turns: one side talks while the other waits. Full-duplex voice AI streams the caller’s audio continuously, uses voice activity detection to notice when the caller starts speaking, and cuts its own speech short when that happens. This is often called barge-in.

The hard part is telling real interruptions from noise. A cough, a dog barking, or line static shouldn’t stop the assistant mid-word, while “wait, it’s Thursday, not Tuesday” should. Systems tune how long a pause counts as the end of a turn and how loud speech must be before it interrupts.

## Example: a restaurant reservation change

A caller books a table for four at a restaurant. While the assistant reads back “four people on Friday at seven,” the caller interrupts: “Actually make that six.” The assistant stops, confirms six, checks the time still works, and finishes the booking without making the caller wait for the full read-back. This scenario is illustrative.

## Interruptions in InsertChat calls

InsertChat’s [AI receptionist](https://insertchat.com/product/phone) is built for natural turn-taking. When a caller asks a question or corrects it, even during the greeting, it stops speaking, listens, and answers the latest question first. Coughs, background voices, and line noise are not treated as interruptions, and an interruption alone doesn’t cancel a task in progress.

It follows a caller’s spoken corrections for the rest of the call, including how to pronounce a name. See how it handles bookings for [restaurants](https://insertchat.com/industries/restaurants).

## What is barge-in?

Barge-in is when a caller speaks while the system is talking and the system stops to listen. It’s what makes full-duplex voice AI feel like a real conversation.

## Why do some voice bots talk over callers?

Half-duplex systems don’t listen while speaking, and badly tuned full-duplex systems either ignore interruptions or stop at every noise. Both make conversations feel robotic.

## Related terms

- [Voice AI agent](https://insertchat.com/glossary/voice-ai-agent): A voice AI agent is software that holds a spoken conversation and takes actions on someone’s behalf.
- [Conversational AI](https://insertchat.com/glossary/conversational-ai): Conversational AI is technology that lets software hold a natural conversation with people by text or voice.
- [Natural language understanding (NLU)](https://insertchat.com/glossary/natural-language-understanding): Natural language understanding, or NLU, is the part of AI that works out what a person means from the words they use.
- [VoIP (voice over internet protocol)](https://insertchat.com/glossary/voip): VoIP, or voice over internet protocol, is technology that carries phone calls over an internet connection instead of a traditional analog phone line.

## Related InsertChat pages

- [AI receptionist](https://insertchat.com/product/phone)
- [AI receptionist for restaurants](https://insertchat.com/industries/restaurants)