Keyterm Prompting

Keyterm Prompting allows you improve Keyword Recall Rate (KRR) for important keyterms or phrases up to 90%.

keyterm string

Pre-recorded Streaming English Only

Instantly increase accuracy and recognition of up to 100 important terminology, product and company names, industry jargon, phrases and more.

Keyterm Prompting is only available for English transcription using the Nova-3 Model. To boost recognition of keywords using another Deepgram model, use the Keywords feature.

Enable Feature

To enable Keyterm Prompting, add a keyterm parameter in the query string and set it to your chosen key term:

keyterm=KEYTERM

To transcribe audio from a file on your computer, run the following cURL command in a terminal or your favorite API client.

cURL
$curl \
>  --request POST \
>  --header 'Authorization: Token YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY' \
>  --header 'Content-Type: audio/wav' \
>  --data-binary @youraudio.wav \
>  --url 'https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?model=nova-3&keyterm=KEYTERM'

Replace YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY with your Deepgram API Key.

Using Multiple Keyterms

A space must be properly URL-encoded to ensure compatibility. Both %20 and + are valid encodings, but their usage depends on context. In URL paths, spaces must be encoded as %20, while in query parameters, either %20 or + can be used.

You can pass in multiple keywords in you query string in several ways:

Repeat the keyterm parameter for each keyterm to ensure each keyterm is processed individually.

cURL
$curl \
>  --request POST \
>  --header 'Authorization: Token YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY' \
>  --header 'Content-Type: audio/wav' \
>  --data-binary @youraudio.wav \
>  --url "https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?model=nova-3&keyterm=KEYTERM1&keyterm=KEYTERM2"

Use an encoded space %20 to separate each keyterm and combine multiple keyterms into a single space-delimited value and boost an entire phrase as a cohesive unit.

cURL
$curl \
>  --request POST \
>  --header 'Authorization: Token YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY' \
>  --header 'Content-Type: audio/wav' \
>  --data-binary @youraudio.wav \
>  --url 'curl -X GET "https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?model=nova-3&keyterm=term1%20term2"

Use a plus + to separate each keyterm and combine multiple keyterms into a single space-delimited value and boost an entire phrase as a cohesive unit.

cURL
$curl \
>  --request POST \
>  --header 'Authorization: Token YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY' \
>  --header 'Content-Type: audio/wav' \
>  --data-binary @youraudio.wav \
>  --url 'curl -X GET "curl -X GET "https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?model=nova-3&keyterm=term1+term2"

Example Using Key Terms

SourceConfidence Score beforeConfidence Score after
nacho stack double crunch taco"word": "macho", "confidence": 0.88728034"word": "nacho", "confidence": 0.99029267

Key Term Limits

Key Terms are limited to 500 tokens per request; anything beyond that will return an error like so:

Error
Keyterm limit exceeded. The maximum number of tokens across all keyterms is 500.
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