Voice agents need usable transcripts fast, not just low WER
Top_Conclusion5327 · reddit · 2026-07-24
For voice agents, the real question is latency, not WER
The post argues that a 2% WER is not very useful if the bot needs 2 full seconds to respond. For real-time voice agents, the author says the more important question is when the system produces usable text.
They ask which STT APIs are actually delivering:
- fast partial transcripts
- low enough latency for conversational turn-taking
- usable output in real-time agent workflows
The thread is essentially a request for practical STT recommendations optimized for agent responsiveness, not benchmark accuracy alone.
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