### Answer The initial delay when an agent responds on outbound calls can be addressed through several configuration adjustments. [(1) ]() One common cause is having an empty or null

begin_message

in your LLM configuration. When

begin_message=""

is set, it can create a delay in the first agent response. Removing this line entirely can make the response very fast, though you can control the timing with

begin_message_delay_ms

. However, removing the empty

begin_message

may cause the agent to interrupt if the called party answers with something longer than "hello" (like "hello, thank you for calling...") . If you need to keep

begin_message=""

to avoid interruptions, set

responsiveness

to 1 for the best results. You can also adjust these parameters in your agent configuration: [(2) ]() - **begin_message_delay_ms**: Set to 0 to have the agent speak immediately (default is 1000ms) - **responsiveness**: Controls how responsive the agent is, with values from 0 to 1. Higher values mean faster exchanges - **interruption_sensitivity**: Controls how easily users can interrupt, ranging from 0 to 1 The delay can also be influenced by turn-taking logic, especially when the system is determining whether the user has finished speaking. [(3) ]()

​ To learn more, see the sources I considered: [[1] Outbound Agent Initial Voice Delay](https://discord.com/channels/1186424376300679209/1393235393448513617) [[2] Update Voice Agent](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/update-agent) [[3] High end to end latency in phone calls](https://discord.com/channels/1186424376300679209/1450956304288845855) ​

Feel free to tag @AI Evy with additional questions. I also appreciate feedback, it helps me improve.

### Answer You're correct that

begin_message_delay_ms

only applies when the agent speaks first [(1) ]() . For outbound calls where the user speaks first (saying "hello") , the delay you're experiencing is related to the agent's turn-taking behavior. To improve response time when the user initiates the conversation on outbound calls, adjust these parameters : responsiveness - Set this to

1

(the maximum value) to make the agent respond as quickly as possible. This controls how fast the agent exchanges turns, with higher values meaning faster responses . interruption_sensitivity - Set this to a higher value (closer to

1

) to make the agent more responsive to user speech. This controls how easily the system detects that the user has finished speaking . enable_dynamic_responsiveness - Set this to

true

to have the agent dynamically adjust response speed based on the user's speech rate and turn-taking behavior during the call . These settings specifically address the turn-taking logic that determines when the user has finished speaking and when the agent should begin its response .

​ To learn more, see the sources I considered: [[1] Update Voice Agent](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/update-agent) ​

Feel free to tag @AI Evy with additional questions. I also appreciate feedback, it helps me improve.