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What is Deepgram used for in a Bolna voice agent?
Deepgram is Bolna's default English transcriber: it converts the caller's speech to text in real time so your agent's LLM can respond, with the streaming nova-3 model as the recommended default. Pick it for English agents where latency matters most, or use nova-2 and its domain variants for other languages and specialist vocabulary.
How do I set up Deepgram with Bolna?
- Open your agent at platform.bolna.ai and go to the Languages tab.
- Under Transcription, set Provider to
deepgramand Model tonova-3for English, ornova-2for other languages. - Set the language explicitly. Auto-detect adds 100 to 200 ms and can misclassify.
- Add product names and jargon in Keywords. Keep it to 20 to 50 focused terms.
- To use your own Deepgram account, connect it at platform.bolna.ai/auth/deepgram.
For endpointing, encoding and every model, see the Deepgram setup guide in the Bolna docs.
Which Deepgram models does Bolna support?
| Model | Languages | Best for |
|---|---|---|
nova-3 | English | Lowest latency, recommended default |
nova-3-medical | English | Clinical terminology |
nova-2 | 30+ languages | Multilingual agents |
nova-2-phonecall | English | Phone audio with background noise |
nova-2-conversationalai | English | AI agent conversations |
nova-2-meeting | English | Multiple speakers |
nova-2-medical | English | Medical terminology |
nova-2-finance | English | Financial and trading terminology |
nova-2-atc | English | Air traffic control |
nova-2-drivethru | English | Quick-service ordering |
nova-2-automotive | English | In-car applications |
| Flux (English) | English | Turn detection inside the model |
| Flux (Multilingual) | Multiple, with per-turn language identification | Multilingual agents without a preset language |
For Indian languages, the docs note Sarvam may give better accuracy.
What can you build with Deepgram and Bolna?
Fast English support lines. nova-3 is the lowest-latency option for English, which keeps dead air short on inbound and outbound calls. The same config works for both.
Healthcare and finance calls. Use nova-3-medical, nova-2-medical or nova-2-finance so clinical or trading terms come through correctly.
Snappier turn-taking with Flux. Flux can start the LLM response before the caller fully stops and detects barge-ins without VAD delay. See the Deepgram Flux guide.
Cost-sensitive, high-volume campaigns. The docs recommend Deepgram nova-2 for high-volume calling where cost matters, and it sits inside Bolna's flat per-minute rate. See pricing.