How to stop saying “um”: what actually helps
20 October 2026 · 5 min read
You can’t switch “um” off, but you can say it a lot less. Here is what helps, and what the research says about each tip.
First, why it happens
“Um” and “uh” are how we fill a gap while our brain catches up with our mouth. They go up when you have more choices to make, which is why you say them more when you’re explaining something you’re still working out. We cover the research in why we say “um”. The useful part here is that fillers are a planning habit, not a character flaw, so you can train them down.
Does it matter? A little. In one study using unscripted speech, filled pauses made listeners rate speakers as less ready and less certain, and listeners were less willing to choose a speaker who used them. Yet another study found that most listeners wrongly assume ums come from nerves or poor preparation. So the aim isn’t to stamp them out. It’s to stop them piling up.
1. Swap the filler for a pause
This is the single most useful change. When you feel an “um” coming, stop and say nothing for a moment. The gap feels much longer to you than it does to the listener, and it sounds thoughtful, not lost. You still get the thinking time that the “um” was buying.
2. Know your first sentence and your handovers
Fillers cluster where you have to make a choice: how to start, and how to move from one point to the next. The research linking ums to open-ended choices suggests a fix, and it’s my inference rather than a tested method: reduce the choices. Write out your opening line and the sentence that joins each section, then speak the rest freely.
3. Slow down a little
Planning has to stay ahead of your voice. If you speak faster than you can plan, the gap shows up as a filler. Aim for a slightly slower pace, especially after a point you’ve just made, and let the next sentence form before you start it.
4. Record yourself and listen back
This is the tip with the clearest evidence. In a study of four university students giving short speeches, training them to notice their own fillers (such as by reviewing their recordings) led to meaningful reductions for every one of them. Extra “booster” sessions were needed to cut them further. It’s a small study, but it matches common sense: most people don’t know how often they say “um” until they hear it.
Try it: record a two-minute answer to a question, listen once, and count. Then do it again the next day.
5. Aim for fewer, not none
Perfectly smooth speech can sound scripted. A few natural fillers are fine, and in our earlier post we saw that a filler can even prepare listeners for an unexpected word. Aim to remove the runs of them and the long, searching pauses, not every last one.
Or fix it in the edit
On a video, you don’t have to get it right in one take. erm finds the ums, erms, uhs and long pauses and shows you every one before anything is cut, so you can keep the natural ones and remove the rest. Everything happens on your Mac, and nothing is uploaded. Our guide to removing ums from a video on a Mac shows the manual way too.
Sources
- Disfluency in Spontaneous Speech: Social Attribution and Behavioral Consequences. University of California, eScholarship. Experiments on unscripted speech showing filled pauses lowered perceived readiness and certainty.
- Christenfeld, N. (1995). Does it hurt to say um? Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 19, 171–186.
- Spieler, C. & Miltenberger, R. (2017). Using awareness training to decrease nervous habits during public speaking. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 50(1), 38–47.
- Schachter, S., Christenfeld, N., Ravina, B. & Bilous, F. (1991). Speech disfluency and the structure of knowledge. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(3), 362–367.
Questions
How do I stop saying um?
Pause silently instead of filling the gap, plan your opening and your handovers, speak a little slower, and record yourself so you can hear how often you do it. Aim for fewer ums, not none.
Is it bad to say um?
A few are normal and harmless. A lot of them can make you sound less ready or certain, according to studies of unscripted speech, so it helps to cut the runs of them.
Can I remove ums from a video instead?
Yes. A tool like erm finds the ums and long pauses in a video and lets you choose which to cut, all on your Mac.
erm is coming soon to the Mac App Store. First 3 videos free, then $29.99 once or $19.99 a year.