Keyword Boosting

Boost specific words or phrases so the speech-to-text model recognizes them correctly

Real-Time

Keyword boosting lets you bias the Pulse speech-to-text model toward specific words or phrases — useful for proper nouns, brand names, technical terms, or domain-specific vocabulary that the model might otherwise misrecognize.

Format

Keywords are passed as a comma-separated string in the keywords query parameter. Each keyword follows the format:

KEYWORD:INTENSIFIER

Part	Required	Description
KEYWORD	Yes	The word or phrase to boost
INTENSIFIER	No	A number controlling boost strength. Defaults to 1.0 if omitted

Intensifier Scale

Value	Effect
1	Mild boost (default if omitted)
2-3	Moderate boost — good for uncommon proper nouns
4-6	Strong boost — for rare terms the model struggles with
7-10	Very strong boost — use sparingly, can over-bias results

Higher values create a stronger bias toward that word in the output. Start low and increase if the word still isn’t recognized correctly.

Enabling Keyword Boosting

Real-Time WebSocket API

Add the keywords query parameter to your WebSocket connection URL with a comma-separated list of keywords and optional intensifiers.

Single keyword

const url = new URL("wss://api.smallest.ai/waves/v1/pulse/get_text");
url.searchParams.append("language", "en");
url.searchParams.append("encoding", "linear16");
url.searchParams.append("sample_rate", "16000");
url.searchParams.append("keywords", "NVIDIA:5");

const ws = new WebSocket(url.toString(), {
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
  },
});

Multiple keywords

wss://api.smallest.ai/waves/v1/pulse/get_text?language=en&encoding=linear16&sample_rate=16000&keywords=Hansi:6,Muller:6,CVV:9

Mix of boosted and default-intensity keywords

wss://api.smallest.ai/waves/v1/pulse/get_text?language=en&encoding=linear16&sample_rate=16000&keywords=CEO:3,NVIDIA:5,Jensen

Jensen with no intensifier defaults to 1.0.

Examples

Boost names in a meeting transcript

wss://api.smallest.ai/waves/v1/pulse/get_text?language=en&encoding=linear16&sample_rate=16000&keywords=Jensen:4,NVIDIA:5,Blackwell:6,CUDA:3

Boost brand names and product terms

wss://api.smallest.ai/waves/v1/pulse/get_text?language=en&encoding=linear16&sample_rate=16000&keywords=Anthropic:5,Claude:4,Sonnet:3

Limits

• Max 100 keywords per session
• Intensifier must be a non-negative number
• Each keyword must be a string

Start with lower intensifier values (1–3) and increase gradually. Very high values (7–10) can over-bias the model and should be used sparingly.