Research
Reference-grade reviews of the peer-reviewed research behind speech disfluency, filler words, and professional communication, published by Wellspoken Labs.
The Spontaneity Gap: What the 2026 Evidence Says About AI Use and Unscripted Speech
Survey evidence from 2026 finds 51% of workers say AI has made spontaneous conversation harder, rising to 66% among Gen Z. This review separates what is measured from what is self-reported and identifies what would settle it.
September 18, 2026The Observer Effect in Recorded Meetings: What Changes When an AI Notetaker Joins
Vendor analytics covering 159,870 meetings report that women speak 9% more than men when an AI notetaker is present, against a baseline where they speak 25% less. This review examines the evidence and its limits.
September 17, 2026Verbal Verification: Why Unscripted Speech Became a Hiring Signal in 2026
Applications per role roughly doubled between 2022 and 2025 while written submissions became trivially cheap to generate. This review examines why screening shifted toward unscripted speech, and what that shift assumes.
September 16, 2026The Trust Cost of AI-Generated Work Communication
Survey research reports that 41% of workers received AI-generated "workslop" in a month, costing nearly two hours per incident, and that 42% trusted the sender less afterward. This review examines the trust mechanism.
September 15, 2026AI-Assisted Speech Coaching: Methods, Applications, and Efficacy in Professional Development
A research-grounded survey of AI-assisted speech coaching, covering its technical methods, evidence on effectiveness compared with human coaching, and data-privacy considerations.
August 4, 2026Communication Apprehension in the Workplace: Prevalence, Triggers, and Behavioral Interventions
A research-backed review of how common communication apprehension is in professional settings, what triggers it, and which behavioral interventions have evidence behind them.
August 4, 2026Discourse Markers in Workplace English: Usage Patterns, Social Functions, and Professional Perception
A research review of corpus and perception studies on discourse markers such as "like," "you know," and "basically" in professional versus casual speech.
August 4, 2026English Proficiency in Professional Settings: Communication Barriers for Non-Native Speakers and Evidence-Based Interventions
This review synthesizes research on workplace language anxiety, accent-based perception, and career barriers facing non-native English speakers, along with evidence on oral English training and technology-assisted interventions.
August 4, 2026Filled Pauses vs. Silent Pauses in Speech: Functional Differences and Behavioral Modification
A review of research distinguishing filled pauses ("uh," "um") from silent pauses in speech, covering their signaling functions, listener perception, speaker self-perception, and behavioral techniques for modifying pause type.
August 4, 2026Habit Formation and Behavior Change in Speech Pattern Modification
Peer-reviewed research on habit loops, cue-based intervention, and realistic habit-change timelines offers a psychological framework for understanding why speech patterns such as filler words persist and how they change.
August 4, 2026Speaker Credibility and Verbal Disfluency: A Review of Perception Research in Professional Contexts
A research review synthesizing over twenty peer-reviewed studies on how filled pauses and other speech disfluencies shape listener judgments of a speaker's credibility and competence.
August 4, 2026Standup Meetings: Communication Structure, Verbal Patterns, and Effectiveness
Peer-reviewed research on standup meetings addresses their value and structure but rarely their verbal micro-patterns, so this article draws careful, clearly labeled connections to adjacent research on meeting brevity, hedged speech, and time-pressure disfluency.
August 4, 2026Vocal Delivery in Professional Communication: A Framework for Assessment and Training
Research on vocal delivery in professional communication spans acoustic measurement, listener-perception studies, and structured training, and it does not support the popular claim that words carry only 7 percent of a spoken message.
August 4, 2026Filler Word Frequency in Professional Speech: Norms, Contexts, and Perceptual Thresholds
A literature review of filler word frequency, production mechanisms, and perceptual consequences across conversational, presentation, and evaluative speech contexts.
August 3, 2026