From d47d95e1f0f29493aca68368ff7c080f1df6d6a8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mark Backman <mark@daily.co>
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2026 23:20:11 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Update SonioxSTTService default model to stt-rt-v4

---
 changelog/3697.changed.md                          | 1 +
 examples/foundational/07za-interruptible-soniox.py | 8 +++++++-
 src/pipecat/services/soniox/stt.py                 | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 changelog/3697.changed.md

diff --git a/changelog/3697.changed.md b/changelog/3697.changed.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ce7bf49d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/3697.changed.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Update `SonioxSTTService` default model to `stt-rt-v4`.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/foundational/07za-interruptible-soniox.py b/examples/foundational/07za-interruptible-soniox.py
index 95677c045..b896a43b9 100644
--- a/examples/foundational/07za-interruptible-soniox.py
+++ b/examples/foundational/07za-interruptible-soniox.py
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ from pipecat.runner.types import RunnerArguments
 from pipecat.runner.utils import create_transport
 from pipecat.services.cartesia.tts import CartesiaTTSService
 from pipecat.services.openai.llm import OpenAILLMService
-from pipecat.services.soniox.stt import SonioxSTTService
+from pipecat.services.soniox.stt import SonioxInputParams, SonioxSTTService
+from pipecat.transcriptions.language import Language
 from pipecat.transports.base_transport import BaseTransport, TransportParams
 from pipecat.transports.daily.transport import DailyParams
 from pipecat.transports.websocket.fastapi import FastAPIWebsocketParams
@@ -52,6 +53,11 @@ async def run_bot(transport: BaseTransport, runner_args: RunnerArguments):
 
     stt = SonioxSTTService(
         api_key=os.getenv("SONIOX_API_KEY"),
+        vad_force_turn_endpoint=True,
+        params=SonioxInputParams(
+            language_hints=[Language.EN],
+            language_hints_strict=True,
+        ),
     )
 
     tts = CartesiaTTSService(
diff --git a/src/pipecat/services/soniox/stt.py b/src/pipecat/services/soniox/stt.py
index 268e34508..e3e9e3e5c 100644
--- a/src/pipecat/services/soniox/stt.py
+++ b/src/pipecat/services/soniox/stt.py
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ class SonioxInputParams(BaseModel):
         client_reference_id: Client reference ID to use for transcription.
     """
 
-    model: str = "stt-rt-preview"
+    model: str = "stt-rt-v4"
 
     audio_format: Optional[str] = "pcm_s16le"
     num_channels: Optional[int] = 1