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arXiv · 2605.20755

DuplexSLA: A Full-Duplex Spoken Language Model with Synchronized Speech, Language, and Action

Abstract

Recent advances in spoken dialogue language models have shifted from turn-based to full-duplex designs, where the model continuously listens to the user while generating responses. However, existing duplex backbones still lack a native channel for in-conversation planning and tool calling, leaving real-time agentic behaviour either tied to turn boundaries or relegated to an external cascade. We propose DuplexSLA, a native full-duplex Speech-Language-Action foundation model that decodes assistant audio together with a structured action stream on a shared 160 ms chunk timeline. DuplexSLA is built on a dual-stream three-channel formulation: a continuous user audio channel, a discrete assistant audio channel, and a rate-limited textual action channel, all decoded jointly by a single backbone, so that listening, speaking, planning, and tool calling unfold on one shared clock. Two capabilities define the model: (1) semantic-driven turn-taking control, where interruption, pause, and backchannel are handled inside the same backbone instead of by an external semantic VAD; and (2) in-conversation planning and tool calling, where planning text and structured tool calls are emitted on the action channel without halting assistant audio, so that multi-action and backchannel-triggered tool use are interleaved with ongoing speech. To evaluate these capabilities together, we further construct DuplexSLA-Bench, a duplex benchmark covering pause, interrupt, and backchannel turn-taking together with three styles of in-conversation tool calling. Our project page, interactive demos, and the DuplexSLA-Bench evaluation suite are publicly available at https://github.com/hyzhang24/DuplexSLA.

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BibTeXRIS

Haoyang Zhang, Jun Chen, Donghang Wu, Yuxin Li, Yuxin Zhang, Xiangyu Tony Zhang, Che Liu, Qingjian Lin, Yizhou Peng, Hexin Liu, Eng Siong Chng, Chao Yan, Boyong Wu, Yechang Huang, Xuerui Yang, Fei Tian. 2026-06-11. DuplexSLA: A Full-Duplex Spoken Language Model with Synchronized Speech, Language, and Action. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.20755

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