Filler words like “um” and “ah” can undermine clarity and confidence in everyday conversation. This article explores practical, evidence-informed strategies adults can use at home to identify filler habits, practice targeted articulation drills, and measure progress. Follow a structured plan with recordings, pacing techniques, and realistic exercises to reduce disfluencies and speak with greater clarity and presence in work and social settings.
Why filler words occur and their impact on communication
When you speak, your brain performs a complex balancing act. It chooses words while planning the next sentence and monitoring your listener. This process involves lexical retrieval. Sometimes the brain needs extra milliseconds to find a specific word or organize a thought. During these moments, we insert fillers like um or ah. These sounds act as placeholders. They tell the listener that you are still thinking and have not finished your turn yet. This is a cognitive strategy to buy time.
The Cognitive and Linguistic Roots
Working memory limits play a major role in speech fluency. If you explain a difficult concept, your brain might reach its processing capacity. Anxiety makes this worse. When you feel nervous, your heart rate increases and your focus shifts. This stress leads to a spike in filler words. Research shows that people use more fillers when they feel under pressure or talk about unfamiliar topics. Psycholinguistic studies suggest that fillers occur at syntactic boundaries where the brain needs more planning time. Exploring Filler Words and Their Impact explains that these sounds are not just random noise but functional parts of the speech planning process.
Social Signals and Turn-Taking
Fillers serve a social purpose in conversation. They signal that you intend to keep speaking. Without an um or ah, a silent pause might invite someone else to interrupt. By using a filler, you hold the floor while you formulate your next point. Habit and automaticity also keep these words in our vocabulary. For many adults, fillers become a subconscious reflex. High frequency speakers average about five fillers per minute. This means they use one every twelve seconds. Over time, this becomes a deep seated pattern that occurs even when the speaker is not particularly stressed.
Distinguishing Disfluencies
It is important to distinguish fillers from other speech issues. Fillers like um and ah are different from repetitions or stuttering. A repetition involves saying the same word twice. Stuttering involves prolonged sounds or blocks where no sound comes out. Fillers are usually considered a normal part of language until they become too frequent. A 2014 study found an average filler rate of 2.41 per 100 words. Silent pauses averaged 1.73 per 100 words. Normal fillers occur at natural breaks in sentences. Excessive use harms clarity when it exceeds 1.28 percent of total utterances. Interestingly, Exploring the Difference in Filler Word Frequency shows that native speakers often use more fillers than non-native speakers because they feel more comfortable in the language.
Listener Perception and Professional Impact
The way others perceive you changes based on how often you use these words. Listeners associate frequent fillers with a lack of confidence. In professional settings, this harms your credibility. A study by Frederick Conrad found that telemarketer success rates dropped proportionally when their filler rate went above 1.28 percent. When you exceed this threshold, the listener stops focusing on your message. They start noticing your diction instead. This shift in attention reduces overall comprehension. High filler rates can make a speaker seem less competent even if they are an expert in their field.
| Disfluency Type | Mean Rate (per 100 words) | Standard Deviation |
|---|---|---|
| Fillers (Um/Ah) | 2.41 | 1.88 |
| Silent Pauses | 1.73 | 0.77 |
| Repeated Words | 0.99 | 1.25 |
Vignettes of Message Reception
Consider a job interview where a candidate is asked about their greatest achievement. If they say, “Um, I think, ah, my biggest success was, you know, leading the sales team,” the interviewer might doubt their leadership skills. The message gets lost in the noise. In a team meeting, a manager who uses too many fillers might seem unprepared. Even in a simple social introduction, saying “Hi, I am, uh, Sarah, and I, um, work in marketing” can make a person seem unsure of themselves. A famous case involved Caroline Kennedy during a 2008 interview. In just over two minutes, she used 57 fillers in 450 words. This resulted in a 13 percent filler rate. The public reaction focused almost entirely on her speech patterns rather than her political points.
Why Training Beats Willpower
Many people try to stop using fillers through sheer willpower. They tell themselves to just stop saying um. This rarely works because fillers are automatic habits. They are deeply embedded in the way the brain processes language. Willpower is a limited resource. It often fails when you are tired or stressed. Adult learners benefit from targeted training that replaces these sounds with silent pauses. Structured drills help build new neural pathways. This allows clear speech to become a new default setting. Rather than fighting a reflex, you learn a new way to manage the natural pauses in your speech. This approach leads to lasting change and increased confidence in all communication contexts.
Assessing your filler word habits at home
You cannot fix a habit that you have not measured yet. Most people realize they use filler words but they do not know how often these sounds appear in their speech. Creating a baseline is the first step toward clear communication. This process requires you to record yourself in a controlled environment to see exactly where your speech breaks down. You will need a smartphone or a simple microphone for this task. Most built-in voice memo apps on modern phones provide enough clarity for speech analysis. Place your device on a flat surface about twelve inches from your mouth. This distance ensures the microphone captures every “um” and “ah” without picking up too much background noise.
The Three Minute Monologue Test
Set a timer for exactly three minutes. You should speak without a prepared script to capture your natural speech patterns. Choose a topic that requires some thought but is familiar to you. You might describe your current job responsibilities. You could explain a hobby or summarize a book you recently finished. If you prefer a structured approach, use a professional bio or a short project update. Start the recording and speak until the timer goes off. Do not stop or restart if you make a mistake. The goal is to document your genuine verbal habits, including the moments when you struggle to find the right word.
Counting and Calculating Your Metrics
Listen to your recording with a pen and paper. Every time you hear a filler word like “um,” “uh,” “ah,” or “like,” make a tally mark. Do not count silent pauses or repetitions of full words at this stage. Focus only on the vocalized placeholders. Once you have the total count, you can calculate your Fillers Per Minute (FPM). Divide the total number of fillers by three. An average speaker often uses about five fillers per minute. This means you might hear one every twelve seconds. Knowing your FPM gives you a simple number to track over the coming weeks.
Calculating Percentages and Impact
To get a deeper understanding of your speech, you need to calculate the percentage of fillers in your utterances. Transcribe a one minute segment of your recording. Count the total number of words spoken in that minute. Use the formula of fillers divided by total words multiplied by one hundred. Research indicates that filler words can change how listeners perceive your competence. A rate higher than 1.28 percent often begins to distract the audience and reduce your perceived credibility. For example, if you speak 150 words in a minute and use 10 fillers, your rate is about 6.6 percent. This is significantly higher than the professional threshold and suggests a need for targeted practice.
Spotting Patterns Through Transcription
Transcribing short clips helps you identify where fillers occur in your sentence structure. You can use automated tools like Otter.ai or transcribe by hand. Look for fillers at the beginning of sentences. These often signal that you are starting to speak before your thought is fully formed. Look for fillers in the middle of sentences. These usually happen during lexical retrieval when your brain is searching for a specific noun or verb. You might notice that you use “um” when you are thinking and “ah” when you are transitioning between ideas. Identifying these specific locations allows you to apply the correct drills later.
Identifying Your Personal Triggers
Fillers do not happen at random. They are often tied to specific contexts or emotional states. Use a log to track the circumstances of your speech throughout the day. Note the difficulty of the topic you were discussing. Complex technical subjects often trigger more fillers because they tax your working memory. Record the type of audience you were speaking to. You might find that you speak clearly with friends but use more fillers with a supervisor. Note the device you used. Some people find that video calls create more pressure than in person conversations. Logging these details helps you predict when you are most at risk of losing clarity.
Sample Assessment Worksheet
Use a table to organize your findings. This layout keeps your data consistent over time.
| Date | Situation | Duration | Filler Count | FPM | Notes on Triggers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/24/2025 | Solo Monologue | 3 min | 18 | 6.0 | Struggled with technical terms |
| 12/26/2025 | Work Meeting | 5 min | 40 | 8.0 | High pressure, felt nervous |
| 12/28/2025 | Phone Call | 2 min | 6 | 3.0 | Casual topic, felt relaxed |
Setting Practical Progress Thresholds
Do not expect to reach zero fillers immediately. Speech improvement is a gradual process. A realistic goal is to reduce your fillers per minute by 30 percent within the first four weeks. If your baseline is 6 FPM, aim for 4 FPM by the end of the month. This reduction is enough for listeners to notice a significant improvement in your clarity. You should also aim to bring your filler percentage closer to the 1.28 percent mark. Consistent measurement every week will show you if your drills are working or if you need to adjust your focus.
Privacy and Consent Best Practices
Recording yourself is a private exercise, but you may want to record real world interactions for a better baseline. You must follow legal and ethical guidelines when other people are involved. Always ask for explicit consent before recording a conversation with a colleague or friend. Explain that you are working on a speech improvement project and only need the audio for self analysis. If you cannot get consent, stick to solo recordings or use a speech partner who has agreed to help you. Protecting the privacy of others is essential for maintaining professional and personal trust while you train.
Structured drills to reduce ums and ahs
Once you have a baseline from your home assessment, you can start the physical work of retraining your speech patterns. It is not enough to simply want to stop saying “um.” You have to replace the habit with a new physical response. This requires a series of drills that move from basic breath control to high pressure simulations.
Breathing and Voice Support Warmups
The 4-6 Rhythm
Nervousness often triggers filler words because the brain is rushing to keep up with a racing heart. Before you practice speaking, sit in a quiet chair. Inhale through your nose for four seconds. Exhale slowly through your mouth for six seconds. Repeat this five times. This specific rhythm calms the nervous system. It reduces the physical anxiety that makes you feel like you must fill every gap with sound. When your breath is steady, your voice has better support. You will find it easier to hold a silent pause without feeling the urge to make a noise.
Deliberate Pause Practice
Getting Comfortable with Silence
Most people use fillers because they are afraid of the void between thoughts. To fix this, read a short paragraph out loud. After every comma or period, stop completely for two full seconds. Count the seconds in your head. It will feel unnaturally long at first. This drill teaches your brain that silence is not a mistake. It is a tool. Practice this for five minutes daily until the silence feels like a resting point rather than a gap to be filled.
Phrasing and Chunking Drills
The 2-6 Word Unit
Rambling is a major cause of disfluency. Instead of trying to speak in long sentences, practice chunking your thoughts into units of two to six words. Speak a chunk. Stop. Speak the next chunk. Stop. This gives your brain time for lexical retrieval without needing a vocal placeholder. Research shows that filler words often occur during planning pauses. By intentionally planning in small units, you reduce the cognitive load on your working memory.
Shadowing and Scripted Practice
Mimicking Fluent Rhythms
Find a thirty second audio clip of a professional speaker. Listen to it once. Then, play it again and speak along with them in real time. Try to match their exact timing and pauses. Focus specifically on where they stay silent. This is called shadowing. It builds a mental map of natural speech rhythms. If you find this difficult, use a printed script first. Mark the pauses with a slash and follow them exactly as you speak.
Substitution Practice
Replacing Sound with Silence
This drill is a direct intervention. Record yourself answering a simple question like “What did you do today?” Every time you feel an “um” or “ah” starting to form, force your mouth to close. Replace the sound with a one second pause. Do twenty repetitions of this. You are teaching your brain a new default setting. Over time, the impulse to say “um” will naturally turn into a clean, professional pause.
Articulation and Vocal Control
Tongue Twisters for Fluency
Clear speech requires physical precision. Use classic drills like “Unique New York” or “Red leather, yellow leather.” Say them ten times very slowly. Focus on the movement of your tongue and lips. Then, gradually increase the speed. This builds the muscle memory needed for fluid articulation. When your mouth can move easily, you are less likely to stumble and use a filler word to recover your place.
Timed Q&A Drills
Simulating Pressure
To test your progress, you need to simulate stress. Pick five random interview questions. Set a timer for one minute for each answer. Record yourself. After you finish, listen back and count the fillers. This helps you see if your drills are holding up when you have to think on your feet. According to studies on spoken communication samples, the average speaker uses five fillers per minute. Your goal is to stay well below that average under pressure.
4-Week Training Plan
| Week | Daily Practice (5-20 Minutes) | Weekly Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Breathing warmups and deliberate pause practice | Count fillers in a 3-minute recording |
| Week 2 | Shadowing and substitution drills | Calculate fillers per minute (FPM) |
| Week 3 | Phrasing drills and mirror role play | Measure percent of utterances with fillers |
| Week 4 | Timed Q&A and high-pressure simulations | Target a 30% reduction from baseline |
Scaling and Adaptation
Difficulty and Non-Native Speakers
As you improve, increase the difficulty by practicing in front of a mirror or with a partner. For non-native English speakers, the challenge is often different. Non-native speakers often use fewer fillers because they are more conscious of their word choice. If English is your second language, focus more on the phrasing and chunking drills. Use simpler scripts and slow down your overall pacing to give your brain more time for word retrieval.
Common Pitfalls
Overcorrection and Unnaturalness
A common mistake is overcorrecting to the point of sounding robotic. If your pauses are longer than three seconds, the listener may think you have lost your train of thought. A natural pause is usually between 0.5 and 2 seconds. If you find yourself speaking too slowly, use a metronome app set to a slow beat to keep a steady flow. The goal is not to eliminate every single pause. The goal is to make the pauses silent and intentional.
Integrating clarity into everyday conversations
Moving from isolated drills to the fast pace of daily life requires a deliberate bridge. You might find that you speak perfectly during a solo practice session but revert to old habits the moment a colleague asks a difficult question. This happens because the cognitive load increases when you have to process new information and manage social dynamics at the same time. To maintain clarity, you must integrate small, manageable routines into your existing schedule.
The Two Minute Reset
A short warm up routine before high stakes interactions can recalibrate your brain. If you have a meeting or a phone call, take 60 to 120 seconds to speak out loud in private. State three simple sentences about your goals for the day. After every sentence, force yourself to wait for a full two seconds. This physical act of waiting reminds your nervous system that silence is safe. It breaks the impulse to fill every gap with sound. If you are in a public space, you can perform this exercise mentally by visualizing the sentences and the pauses.
Physical Anchors for Pacing
Physical cues act as a silent coach during live conversations. One effective method is the thumb to finger anchor. When you feel the urge to use a filler word, gently press your thumb against your index finger. This small movement brings your attention back to the present moment. It serves as a private signal to slow down. You can also use your posture as an anchor. Sitting up straight and placing both feet flat on the floor provides a sense of stability. This grounded position makes it easier to take the deep breaths needed for steady speech.
Keyword Cards and Visual Aids
Relying on a full script often leads to more filler words if you lose your place. Instead, use keyword cards for planned topics. Write down three to five essential words for each point you want to make. This approach allows your brain to focus on connecting ideas rather than memorizing sentences. In video calls, you can stick these notes near your camera lens. This keeps your eyes up and your mind focused on the core message. Research from the Rutgers University database suggests that reducing the reliance on complex mental scripts can significantly lower the frequency of placeholders like “um” and “you know.”
Managing Interruptions and Pressure
Interruptions often trigger a flurry of filler words as you try to reclaim your turn. When someone cuts you off, resist the urge to jump back in immediately. Wait for the other person to finish. Take a breath. Start your response with a deliberate pause. If you need to return to your original point, use a clean transition phrase. You might say, “Returning to the previous point,” or “As I mentioned earlier.” These phrases provide a professional structure and give you a second to organize your thoughts without resorting to “uh” or “ah.”
Adapting to Video and Phone Calls
Digital communication changes how we receive feedback. On a video call, there is often a slight lag. This delay can make silence feel longer than it actually is. You must become comfortable with this digital gap. On the phone, you lose visual cues like nodding or eye contact. To compensate, use short verbal affirmations like “I see” or “Understood” instead of fillers. These words signal that you are still engaged without cluttering the conversation.
Practice Dialogues for Common Scenarios
Using scripts for common interactions helps build muscle memory. Practice these short dialogues until the pauses feel natural.
Scenario 1. Answering “Tell me about yourself”
“I have spent six years in digital marketing. (Pause) My expertise is in data analysis. (Pause) I recently moved to New York to join a larger firm.”
Scenario 2. Leading a Meeting
“Thank you all for coming. (Pause) Today we will cover the budget. (Pause) Let us start with the first quarter results.”
Scenario 3. Social Small Talk
“It is a pleasure to meet you. (Pause) I have heard great things about this event. (Pause) How do you know the host?”
Feedback and Self Review
You cannot fix what you do not measure. Use speech to text tools to review your progress. Apps like Otter.ai or standard voice memos can be transcribed into text. Look for the density of fillers in your transcripts. A study by Conrad et al. (2013) found that speaker credibility begins to drop when filler words exceed 1.28 percent of the total word count. Aim to stay below this threshold.
| Metric | Target Goal | Current Status |
|---|---|---|
| Fillers per minute | Less than 2 | Track weekly |
| Pause duration | 1 to 2 seconds | Practice daily |
| Keyword reliance | High | Avoid scripts |
Ask a trusted peer to provide feedback during low stakes meetings. Ask them to count your fillers for just two minutes of your speaking time. This specific, time bound request is less burdensome for them and provides you with accurate data. When you are practicing alone, alternate between slowing down to perfect your technique and pushing your speed to simulate high pressure environments. This balance ensures that your clarity remains intact even when you are stressed.
Frequently Asked Questions about eliminating filler words
An FAQ chapter serves as a bridge between the technical drills you have practiced and the unpredictable nature of real conversations. It addresses the specific doubts that arise when you start monitoring your own speech in the wild. This section provides clarity on common hurdles and helps you fine-tune your strategy for long-term success.
Are filler words always bad for my professional image?
Are filler words always bad?
Not necessarily. Research suggests that a small number of fillers can actually help listeners follow your thought process. According to Stanford research, these words can signal that you are thinking deeply or transitioning between complex ideas. However, there is a strict threshold for credibility. A study by Frederick Conrad in 2013 found that telemarketer success rates dropped significantly once fillers exceeded 1.28 per 100 words. If you stay below this 1.28 percent mark, your speech feels natural. If you exceed it, listeners may perceive you as less competent or prepared. Your goal should be moderation rather than total elimination. Try to keep your filler rate to about one or two per minute of speech.
What can I do if I start using fillers during a live meeting?
Quick fixes for live speaking?
The fastest fix is a deep breath. If you feel an “um” coming on, stop talking and inhale for two seconds. This physical reset gives your brain the time it needs to find the next word without making a sound. You can also use a physical anchor, such as touching your thumb to your index finger, to remind yourself to slow down. If you get lost, simply state that you are taking a moment to check your notes. This is much more professional than filling the air with “uh” sounds. Practice a 30-second breathing routine before your next call to lower your baseline anxiety.
Are there specific apps that can help me analyze my speech?
Apps and tools that help record and analyze speech?
Several tools can automate the counting process for you. Otter.ai is excellent for transcribing your speech and highlighting disfluencies. You can look at the transcript to see exactly where your fillers cluster. Orai is another app designed specifically for public speaking feedback. It tracks your pace, energy, and filler word count in real-time. Even the basic voice memo app on your phone is a powerful tool when paired with a manual tally. Use these apps to review your 1-minute practice clips daily. Seeing the data visually makes the habit much easier to break.
Do different cultures have different types of filler words?
Cultural differences in filler use?
Filler words vary significantly across languages and cultures. In English, “um” and “ah” are standard. In French, speakers often use “euh,” while Japanese speakers might use “eto” or “ano.” Research in this report suggests that age and gender also influence these patterns. For example, younger speakers and women in certain studies use “um” more frequently, while men may lean toward “uh.” Understanding these patterns helps you realize that fillers are a universal human trait. If you work in a multicultural environment, be aware that your listeners might have different tolerances for silence. Some cultures value long pauses, while others expect faster turn-taking.
Final takeaways and next steps
Moving from understanding filler words to removing them requires a specific schedule. You cannot change a lifelong habit in one afternoon. It takes about ninety days to rewire how your brain handles the silence between thoughts. This final stage of your training focuses on measurable goals. You will move from simple awareness to speaking with natural pauses in high pressure situations.
The Ninety Day Action Plan
This table outlines the milestones you should reach as you progress through the training. Each phase builds on the previous one to ensure the habit sticks.
| Phase | Primary Focus | Measurable Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Awareness and Baseline | Identify your triggers. Reduce fillers to fewer than four per minute in solo recordings. |
| Days 31 to 60 | Substitution and Silence | Replace 50 percent of fillers with a one second pause. Practice in low stakes conversations. |
| Days 61 to 90 | Integration and Mastery | Maintain fewer than two fillers per minute. Use comfortable pauses in professional meetings. |
Weekly Goals and Tracking
During the first month, your goal is to record a three minute monologue every Monday. Use a smartphone app to capture your speech. Listen to the recording. Count every “um,” “ah,” or “you know.” Divide the total count by three to find your fillers per minute. In the second month, your weekly goal shifts to real world application. Try to have one conversation per day where you consciously focus on your breathing. In the third month, ask a trusted colleague to give you feedback after a presentation. Track these numbers in a simple notebook. Seeing the count drop from five fillers per minute to two provides the motivation needed to continue.
Daily Practice Checklist
Consistency matters more than the length of the practice session. Follow this list every morning or evening.
- Record a two minute talk about your day.
- Listen and count the filler words.
- Perform the four-six breathing drill five times. Inhale for four seconds. Exhale for six seconds.
- Practice five sentences with a deliberate two second pause between each one.
- Read a short paragraph aloud. Focus on the punctuation marks as signals to stop.
Concrete Signs of Progress
You will know the training is working when you notice specific changes in your speech patterns. The most obvious sign is a reduced filler count. Research suggests that listeners perceive you as more competent when your filler rate stays below 1.28 percent of your total words. This threshold comes from a 2013 study by Frederick Conrad. Another sign of progress is the length of your pauses. At first, silence feels awkward. As you improve, you will find that a two second pause feels powerful rather than empty. You might also receive positive feedback. People may comment that you seem more relaxed. They might say your points are easier to follow. These are indicators that your brain is getting better at lexical retrieval without using “um” as a crutch.
When to Seek Professional Help
Self training works for many adults. However, some situations require an expert. You should consider contacting a professional if you experience the following issues.
If you see no measurable progress after three months of daily practice, you may need a tailored approach. If your anxiety about speaking increases despite your efforts, a specialist can help. If you suspect your disfluencies are related to a stutter rather than a habit, professional diagnosis is necessary.
A speech language pathologist or a communication coach can provide specific drills for your unique speech patterns. They can help if you feel stuck or if the fear of speaking starts to impact your career or social life.
Resource Categories
You do not have to do this alone. Several types of resources can support your growth.
- Speech language pathologists for clinical diagnosis.
- Communication coaches for professional presence.
- Transcription services to analyze your speech patterns.
- Recording apps for daily tracking.
- Speech analysis software for real time feedback.
Long Term Maintenance
Habit change is not a straight line. You will have days where you use more fillers than usual. This often happens when you are tired. It happens when you are talking about a complex topic you do not know well. Do not let a bad day discourage you. The goal is not to reach zero fillers. Even the most polished speakers use occasional placeholders to signal they are still thinking. You can find more details on this in the guide How to Stop Saying Um. Focus on the overall trend of your progress. As long as your average count is low, your clarity will remain high. Keep your recordings from the first week. Listen to them once a month to remind yourself how far you have come. This practice keeps the habit fresh. It ensures you do not slide back into old patterns as the years go by. You have the strategy. Your timeline starts now.
References
- [PDF] Exploring Filler Words and Their Impact – Schwa – BYU — The purpose of this report is to analyze and synthesize research regarding filler words in order to explain and correct the phenomenon of …
- Exploring the Difference in Filler Word Frequency between Non … — The results from our data supported this hypothesis: on average, native English speakers used about 4 more filler words for every 100 words …
- Psycholinguistic sources of variation in disfluency production – NIH — This study tests the hypothesis that three common types of disfluency (fillers, silent pauses, and repeated words) reflect variance in what strategies are …
- [PDF] The Utilization of Filler Words in Relation to Age and Gender — Research suggests that the social factors of age and gender greatly influence filler word usage, as younger females tend to utilize these words.
- [PDF] The importance of fillers for text representations of speech transcripts — We plan to extend these results by studying the mixing of such textual filler-oriented representations with acoustic representations, and further investi- gate …
- [PDF] How to Stop Saying “Um,” “Ah,” and “You Know” — We analyzed over 4,000 spoken communication samples in our database to identify how much speakers are relying on filler words and how those …
- “Um, Like, So”: How Filler Words Can Be Effective in Communication — Valerie Fridland explains the meaning we all ascribe to these words and how to use them more effectively in your communication.
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