Overview

The Gather Input on Call widget in Twilio Studio allows you to collect input from your callers in two ways:

• DTMF (Dual-tone multi-frequency): When callers press keys on their phone keypad.
• Speech recognition: When callers speak their responses.

Depending on how you configure the widget, Studio may enable both types of input automatically. This can lead to unexpected billing for speech recognition minutes if you only intended to gather DTMF.

This article explains how speech recognition is enabled in the Gather Input on Call widget and how to configure it to use only DTMF.

What You Need To Know

Why Speech Recognition May Be Enabled Automatically

The input type used by the Gather Input on Call widget is determined by the transitions you connect:

If you connect only the User Pressed Keys transition, the widget will collect DTMF only.

If you connect the User Said Something transition (or both transitions), the widget will enable speech recognition.

Because of this, even if you don’t intend to use speech recognition, leaving the “User Said Something” transition connected will cause the widget to listen for spoken input and generate speech recognition usage.

How to Configure the Widget for DTMF Only

To avoid speech recognition charges and ensure the widget only gathers keypresses:

• Open your Studio Flow.
• Locate the Gather Input on Call widget you are using.
• Check the transitions at the bottom of the widget:
  • User Pressed Keys
  • User Said Something
  • No Input
• Disconnect the User Said Something transition.
• Save and publish your Flow.
• With only the User Pressed Keys transition connected, the widget will no longer use speech recognition, and you will only be billed for DTMF collection.

Example

• DTMF only: Connect “User Pressed Keys” → Your next widget.
• DTMF + Speech recognition: Connect both “User Pressed Keys” and “User Said Something.”

Conclusion

Speech recognition in the Gather Input on Call widget is enabled when the User Said Something transition is connected.

To avoid speech recognition charges, disconnect that transition so the widget listens only for DTMF.

For more details, see Twilio Studio: Gather Input on Call.