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whats the best way to detect if a participant is s...
# ask-ai
s
whats the best way to detect if a participant is speaking or silent in livekit?
t
Thanks for reaching out, Wolfgang. I'm an AI assistant and I'm here to help. Give me a moment while I research this topic.
Hey there! If you want to check whether a participant is speaking or silent in LiveKit, you can use the 
isSpeaking
property and listen for the 
IsSpeakingChanged
event. Let me show you some examples to make it easier: JavaScript/TypeScript:
Copy code
const participant = ...;  // Grab your participant reference
const isSpeaking = participant.isSpeaking;

// Keep an eye on changes
participant.on(ParticipantEvent.IsSpeakingChanged, (speaking) => {
    console.log(`Participant ${participant.identity} is ${speaking ? 'speaking' : 'silent'}`);
});
React/React Native:
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import { useIsSpeaking } from '@livekit/components-react';

function ParticipantIndicator({ participant }) {
    const isSpeaking = useIsSpeaking(participant);

    return (
        <div className={`participant ${isSpeaking ? 'speaking' : ''}`}>
            {participant.identity}
        </div>
    );
}
Flutter:
Copy code
import 'package:livekit_components/livekit_components.dart';

class ParticipantIndicator extends StatelessWidget {
    final Participant participant;

    ParticipantIndicator({required this.participant});

    @override
    Widget build(BuildContext context) {
        final participantContext = ParticipantContext.of(context);
        final isSpeaking = participantContext.isSpeaking;

        return Container(
            decoration: BoxDecoration(
                color: isSpeaking ? Colors.green : Colors.grey,
            ),
            child: Text(participantContext.identity),
        );
    }
}
All these approaches tap into LiveKit's handy Voice Activity Detection (VAD) feature, so you get real-time updates on who's chatting away and who's quiet. Hope this helps!
s
how does this is_speaking property work? when is it set? I'm working in python so give examples in python
t
Hey! Just wanted to share a bit about the 
isSpeaking
property in LiveKit. The SDK takes care of it for you, automatically figuring out if someone’s talking using voice activity detection (VAD). It keeps this property updated and even sends out events whenever someone starts or stops speaking, so you can easily respond to those changes in real-time. Here’s a simple example in Python to give you an idea of how you might handle something similar:
Copy code
import asyncio

class Participant:
    def __init__(self):
        self._is_speaking = False

    @property
    def is_speaking(self):
        return self._is_speaking

    def set_is_speaking(self, speaking):
        if self._is_speaking != speaking:
            self._is_speaking = speaking
            print(f"Participant {'started' if speaking else 'stopped'} speaking")

# Example usage
async def main():
    participant = Participant()

    # Simulate speaking changes
    participant.set_is_speaking(True)  # Participant starts speaking
    await asyncio.sleep(1)
    participant.set_is_speaking(False) # Participant stops speaking

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())
Also, in LiveKit, you can keep an eye on who’s actively speaking by listening to the 
ActiveSpeakersChanged
event on the Room object. It gives you a list of participants currently talking, which is super handy for updating your UI or running analytics. If you want me to walk you through anything else or need more tailored examples, just let me know—I’m here to help!
s
where can i find docs on is_speaking property in python sdk ?
t
Hey there! I couldn’t find specific docs for the 
isSpeaking
property in the LiveKit Python SDK, but no worries—this feature is pretty central across all LiveKit SDKs. It’s usually used to tell if someone is speaking by detecting their audio activity. Here’s a quick rundown of how 
isSpeaking
generally works: • LiveKit automatically updates it based on voice activity detection (VAD). • You’ll find it on participant objects, whether they’re local or remote. • It often works alongside events like 
SpeakingChangedEvent
to keep track of when speaking starts or stops. If you want detailed Python SDK docs, I’d suggest checking out the official LiveKit GitHub repo or their Python SDK documentation. And if you want, I’m here to help you with implementing speaking detection in Python or to point you to the right resources—just let me know! Sources: src/room/participant/Participant.ts | lib/src/participant/participant.dart
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