What this article covers: How speech keyword recognition works inside your Hosted PBX Auto Attendant, why certain keywords can trigger false "I don't understand" responses, how to identify whether this is happening, and the steps to remove or disable those keywords.

The Everyday Analogy

Imagine hiring a receptionist and giving them a list of words to listen for, like "sales," "support," or "billing." Any time a caller says one of those words, the receptionist routes the call accordingly. Sounds great. But now imagine a caller says, "Hi, I need support with my invoice," and the receptionist immediately transfers them before they finish their sentence, cutting off the rest of the message. Or, worse, a caller's name happens to match a keyword, and the system misroutes them entirely.

That is exactly what can happen when speech recognition keywords are configured on a Hosted PBX Auto Attendant. The system is listening in the background, and the moment it detects a match, it acts. If that match is accidental or premature, the caller experience breaks down.

How Auto Attendant Speech Recognition Works

The Hosted PBX Auto Attendant (AA) supports two ways for callers to make a selection:

• DTMF (keypad tones): The caller presses a number on their phone.
• Speech recognition: The caller speaks a word or phrase that matches a configured keyword.

Speech recognition can be configured at two levels:

1. Menu-Level Keywords

Each menu option (destination) can have one or more speech keywords assigned to it. For example, Option 1 might have the keywords sales and one, so saying either word routes the caller to sales.

2. System-Level Keywords

The Hosted PBX platform also reserves certain built-in speech commands. Words like operator, zero, repeat, or goodbye may have system-wide behaviour regardless of what is configured in a specific menu.

When speech is enabled, the system begins listening as soon as the greeting finishes playing, or in some cases, even during the greeting if the silence threshold is met. The AA compares what it hears against all active keywords. If there is a match, it acts immediately. If it hears speech but cannot match it to a keyword, it responds with the "I don't understand" prompt, then replays the menu.

The "I don't understand" message is not always caused by a caller saying the wrong thing. It can be triggered when the system hears audio that partially matches or mismatches an active keyword. This can include background noise, overlapping speech, and even fragments of the greeting audio itself in low-quality environments.

What Causes Fales "I Don't Understand" Errors

A false "I don't understand" error occurs when the Auto Attendant responds as if it heard invalid speech, but the caller did not say anything, or said something that should have been valid. Common causes include:

How to Identify If Speech Keywords Are the Problem

Before making any configuration changes, confirm that speech keywords are the root cause. Work through the following checks:

How to Remove or Disable Speech Keywords

Once you have identified that speech keywords are contributing to the problem, you have two options: remove the specific keywords causing issues, or disable speech recognition entirely for the affected menu.

Option A: Remove Specific Problem Keywords

Use this approach when speech recognition is intentional, but one or more specific keywords are causing false matches.

1. Log in to your portal
2. If you are not in your domain view, click "Manage Organization" in the top-right corner.
3. Navigate to  Auto Attendants to find the one to which you want to add speech words and edit.
4. Ensure you have at least 1 option set on the dial pad.
5. Click on the settings icon highlighted below.
   
6. Go to the speech keywords tab.
   

1. Remove any keyword that:
   • Appears in the greeting or menu audio recording
   • Is too short or too common (single syllables, articles, prepositions)
   • Duplicates a keyword used in another menu option
2. Save each option after editing.
3. Test the Auto Attendant with a live call before returning to production use.

Option B: Disable Speech Recognition Entirely

Use this approach when your Auto Attendant is designed for keypad input only, or when speech recognition is causing consistent problems across all options.

1. Log in to the Hosted PBX Portal.
2. Navigate to Auto Attendants and select the affected Auto Attendant.
3. Remove or replace the option with the Speech Keywords

Option C: Rebuild Problem Keywords with Longer, Distinct Phrases

If you want to keep speech recognition active, replace short or ambiguous keywords with longer, more distinct phrases. For example:

Longer phrases reduce the chance of an accidental partial match against background audio or words inside the greeting.

After Making Changes: Testing Checklist

After adjusting or disabling speech keywords, verify the fix before considering the issue resolved:

• Call the Auto Attendant and stay silent. The "I don't understand" prompt should not fire before the timeout.
• Let the greeting and menu play through without interruption.
• Test each button press option to confirm routing still works correctly.
• If speech is still enabled, say each keyword clearly and confirm correct routing.
• Test from a mobile device and a desk phone if possible, as audio quality differs.
• Ask a colleague to test from outside the office to simulate a real caller environment.

When to Contact Support

If you have removed or disabled speech keywords and the "I don't understand" errors persist, the issue may be related to audio file encoding, greeting recording quality, or a platform-level configuration. Contact the support team if:

• The greeting audio cuts out even after all keywords are removed
• Callers are still being misrouted with no speech keyword configuration in place
• The speech recognition toggle is not visible in your Portal
• The problem only occurs on specific call types (mobile, toll-free, SIP trunk)