Hints
Use speech hints to improve recognition accuracy for domain-specific vocabulary, brand names, technical terms, and other words the STT engine might misinterpret.
Why Use Hints?

Adding Simple Hints
Single Hint
Multiple Hints
What to Hint
Hint Examples by Use Case
Customer Service
Technical Support
Healthcare
Financial Services
Pattern Hints (Advanced)
Pattern hints use regular expressions to match and normalize spoken input. They’re useful for:
- Normalizing common mishearings of brand names
- Capturing structured data (account numbers, order IDs)
- Handling variations in how people say things
Pattern Hint Syntax
Common Pattern Examples
Brand name normalization:
Account/Order numbers:
Phone numbers:
Email addresses:
Dates:
Pattern Hint Tips
Test patterns first:
Before adding pattern hints, test your regex at a site like regex101.com. STT output may vary from what you expect.
Start simple:
Begin with basic patterns and refine based on actual transcription errors you observe.
Use capture groups carefully:
${0}= entire match${1}= first capture group${2}= second capture group, etc.
Debug with logging:
Enable debug logging to see what STT produces, then craft patterns to match.
Order matters:
If multiple patterns could match, they’re evaluated in registration order. Put more specific patterns first.
Organizing Hints
For large hint lists, organize by category:
Dynamic Hints
Add hints based on context:
Hint Best Practices
DO:
- Hint brand names and product names
- Hint technical terms specific to your domain
- Hint common employee/customer names
- Hint acronyms and abbreviations
- Test with actual callers to find missed words
DON’T:
- Hint common English words (already recognized well)
- Add hundreds of hints (quality over quantity)
- Hint full sentences (single words/short phrases work best)
- Forget to update hints when products/terms change
Testing Hints
Use swaig-test to verify hints are included:
Check the generated SWML for the hints array:
Complete Example
Next Steps
You now know how to build and configure agents. Next, learn about SWAIG functions to add custom capabilities.