If you’re like everyone I know – you, on occasion, insert an ‘um’ or an ‘ah’ filler syllable into your speaking.

If the ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ are infrequent, they usually won’t be noticed by your listener and won’t distract the listener from your messages.

However, when your ‘ums’, ‘ahs’ become noticeable and/or when people start counting the number of ‘ums’, ‘ahs’ as you are speaking – my suggestion is that you aim to reduce them in your speech.

Here’s a method to reduce ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ that is sourced from my therapy techniques as a speech pathologist.