Voice AI
Alhena Voice AI adds a natural, voice-powered layer to your customer experience. Customers can speak in your chat widget or call your phone/SIP line, and your Alhena agent responds with a configurable voice, personality, and set of guidelines.
Accessing Voice AI Settings
You can find Voice AI under the Integrations page: Integrations → Website & User-facing → Voice AI
From there, click Configure settings to open the full Voice AI setup.
1) Enable Voice in the Chat Widget
Go to Integrations → Voice AI Settings.
Toggle Allow users to use Voice AI in chat widget to make voice available to your live visitors.
To try the agent before going live, enable Enable voice AI in playground, then click Open Playground to test it in your browser. (The Open Playground button stays disabled until the playground toggle is on.)
2) Configure the Voice
Voice & Speed
Select a voice from the dropdown. &#xNAN;Tip: open the dropdown to see additional voices and use Preview to listen before selecting.
Speaking speed: Default (recommended), Slower, or Faster.
Language & Accent
Default Language: the language your voice agent speaks in. Choose from the list of supported languages (defaults to English).
Accent: when regional accents are available for the selected language, pick one here. This option only appears for languages that offer accents, and is hidden for premium voices that carry their own built-in accent.
First Message
Customize the greeting the caller/hearer receives, e.g.,
Hello, how can I help you today?
3) Personality & Tone (Voice-Specific)
When you first enable Voice AI, Personality fields are imported from your existing AI settings. After that, the Voice AI personality becomes independent from the AI personality used in web, email, or other text channels.
Name (how the agent introduces itself)
Identity (short role description)
Tone (style guidelines such as “accurate, professional, and helpful”)
Changes here affect Voice only.
4) Answering Guidelines (Voice-Specific)
Create Voice-only instructions the agent should follow while speaking.
Examples:
“Give a concise answer first; offer details if asked.”
“Confirm order number before sharing any order information.”
These do not change guidelines for web, email, or other text channels.
5) Human Transfer Guidelines
Define when to hand callers to a person. This section is available if:
you’ve connected a helpdesk, or
you’ve connected a phone number and provided a handoff number.
Examples:
“If caller says ‘representative’ or ‘agent,’ transfer.”
“Escalate billing disputes or identity-verification failures.”
6) Connect a Phone Number (Optional)
Integrations → Voice AI Settings → Connect Phone Number
Choose Country and Area Code.
Select an available number and assign it to your Voice AI agent.
You can also turn on Enable phone handoff and enter the phone number calls should be transferred to when a human is needed. Handoffs follow your configured human handoff hours.
IVR Navigation
If your handoff number is answered by a phone menu ("Press 1 for sales, 2 for support…"), Alhena can pick the menu option for the caller so they reach the right team without starting over. Under IVR navigation:
Pause before pressing keys — how long to wait after the call is answered before pressing anything, from No pause up to 5 seconds in half-second steps. Give your menu enough time to start playing.
Keys to press (optional) — the keys to press, in order, such as
2or1#. You can use the digits 0–9,*and#. Type them with no spaces or commas.
Leave Keys to press empty if your handoff number goes straight to a person.
7) SIP Line Integration (External Routing)
Alhena provides you a SIP domain for inbound routing. You configure that SIP domain on your telephony/SIP provider (e.g., Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking) to point calls into Alhena.
➡ For step-by-step provider setup, see SIP Domain Setup
8) Record Voice Calls
Turn on Record voice calls on the Customize tab of the Voice AI settings page to save a recording of each call — both phone calls and voice conversations in your chat widget. Recordings capture the call as the customer heard it: their voice and your agent's replies.
To listen to a recording, open the conversation in your dashboard. A player appears at the Voice Conversation Started marker, where you can play, pause and skip through the call.
Recording is off until you turn it on, and only applies to calls made after that.
Recordings are deleted automatically after 7 days. Download or note anything you need to keep before then.
9) Text Messages During Calls
On phone calls, your Voice AI agent can text the caller things that are easier to read than to hear — a link, an address, or an order or confirmation number. Rather than reading out a long web address, the agent offers: "Shall I text that to you?"
The agent only sends a text when the caller asks for one or says yes to the offer — never unprompted.
The text goes to the number the customer is calling from.
Texts are one-way. Replies to the texting number aren't read, so the agent won't ask customers to text back and keeps any follow-up on the call.
Texting is available for phone calls only. To turn it on for your account, contact the Alhena team.
FAQ & Tips
Can I change voices later? Yes—open the dropdown, preview, and save.
Does changing Voice AI personality affect chat/email replies? No. Voice AI personality and Answering Guidelines are separate from text channels.
Why don’t I see Human Transfer Guidelines? Ensure a helpdesk is connected or that you’ve connected a phone number and entered a handoff number.
How long are call recordings kept? 7 days, after which they're deleted automatically.
Can the caller reply to a text from the agent? No. Texts are one-way; keep the conversation on the call.
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