Fix late speech with Bluetooth headphones

Goal

Keep spoken lines on time when your SylphSpeak listening device is a Bluetooth headset.

When this applies

Use this page if:

• Your listening device is Bluetooth headphones or a Bluetooth headset
• The first line after a quiet pause starts a few seconds late, or sounds like it was skipped
• The next line, sent right away, starts on time
• People in your voice app hear that same delay

The speech itself is usually ready. The headset is waking up, and playback waits for it.

Confirm it is the headset

Turn the listening device off so the next line goes to the virtual mic only. Then check when that audio arrives.

1. In SylphSpeak, open Config mode > Devices.
2. Turn the listening device toggle OFF.
3. Wait about a minute, then send a short line.

If the app has a mic test or input meter, select your SylphSpeak virtual mic and watch when the meter moves.

If the app has no meter, use one of these instead:

• Ask someone in the call. Send one line after the quiet pause, then a second line right away. Ask whether the first line arrived late and the second arrived on time.
• Watch the system meter for the virtual mic.
  • On Windows, right-click the speaker icon and open Sound settings > More sound settings > Recording. Watch the meter next to your SylphSpeak virtual mic while you send the line.
  • On macOS, open System Settings > Sound > Input and select the virtual mic. Watch Input level while you send the line.

On macOS, set Input back to your Mac microphone or other wired mic when you are done.

Read the result

If the line arrives on time with the listening device off, and lines are late again when you turn it back on, the headset is holding playback. Charge the headset, then use the steps for your computer.

If the line is still late with the listening device off, the delay is somewhere else. Continue with the virtual mic setup guide for the app you are connecting to.

Turn the listening device back on after the test if you still want to hear lines locally.

On Windows

Leave the Bluetooth radio on

Windows can turn the Bluetooth adapter off while it is idle. Clear that power-saving option so the radio stays on.

1. Right-click Start and open Device Manager.
2. Expand Bluetooth.
3. Right-click your Bluetooth adapter (often named Intel Wireless Bluetooth or similar) and open Properties.
4. Open Power Management.
5. Clear Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
6. Select OK.
7. Repeat that for any other Bluetooth entry that has a Power Management tab, including the headset if it is listed.
8. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
9. On each USB Root Hub that has a Power Management tab, clear Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

The Bluetooth radio uses USB, and Windows can still sleep that hub.

Keep USB and wireless awake

1. Open Settings > System > Power & battery.
2. Set Power mode to Best performance.
3. Open Control Panel > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings.
4. Set USB settings > USB selective suspend setting to Disabled.
5. If you see Wireless Adapter Settings > Power Saving Mode, set it to Maximum Performance.

Keep the headset in headphone mode

1. Right-click the speaker icon in the taskbar and open Sound settings.
2. Open More sound settings.
3. On the Communications tab, select Do nothing.
4. On the Playback tab, select the entry named Headphones for your headset.
5. Disable the entry named Headset or Hands-Free.

Hands-Free is the call profile, and it stalls.

6. Open the Headphones entry > Properties > Advanced.
7. Clear Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device.
8. Select OK.

In SylphSpeak, set Listening device to that same Headphones entry.

On macOS

macOS leaves the Bluetooth radio on while the Mac is awake and while it is asleep. System Settings has a manual Bluetooth on/off switch, and no setting that powers the radio down on its own during idle or sleep. A helper that turns Bluetooth off when the lid closes stops the headphones, so leave the radio on.

A late line while you are using the Mac usually means the headphones switched into call mode because an app opened their microphone.

1. Open System Settings.
2. Go to Sound.
3. Under Input, select the Mac microphone or another wired microphone.
4. Leave the Bluetooth headphones unselected.

Using the headset microphone puts it in call mode, which pauses and muffles playback.

5. Under Output, select the headphones if that is how you want to hear SylphSpeak.
6. In SylphSpeak, set Listening device to those same headphones.
7. If the headphones are also paired to a phone, disconnect them from the phone.

Only the Mac should be using them.

If it still happens

Choose a different wired headphone or speaker set under Listening device. A second wired device tells you whether this headset is the one holding playback. Your voice app still hears you through the virtual mic.

Quit SylphSpeak and open it again once after that change. Lines that already played do not delay the next line. The restart opens a fresh connection to the new headphones or speakers. You do not need to restart after the other steps on this page.

Check that it worked

Wait about a minute, then send a short line. Send a second line right after it. Both should start within about a second, and someone in the voice app should hear them when you do.

Next step

Confirm the listening device in Set your listening device in SylphSpeak.