Someone says “um,” and you tap the screen. Another speaker steps up, so you switch to their name. Later, you hear “and” but decide it belongs in the sentence, so you leave it alone.
At a Toastmasters meeting, one member volunteers as the Ah-Counter. They listen for filler sounds, overused words, and distracting pauses, then give the group a short report near the end.
Counting one filler is straightforward. Keeping track of several speakers and several types of fillers across a live meeting is harder.
That was the problem we wanted to solve when we built the free speaking.app Filler Counter for the Toastmasters Ah-Counter role.
The Ah-Counter must listen and classify
Toastmasters International describes the role as listening for overused words, filler sounds, and overlong pauses throughout the meeting, recording them, and reporting the observations during the evaluation portion near the end.
In practice, you are doing several things at once. You hear a possible filler without tuning out the speech, decide whether it counts, remember who said it, choose the right category, and update the tally before getting back to listening.
That judgment matters. “And,” “but,” and “so” are not automatically verbal distractions. A Toastmaster magazine guide to the role makes the same point: context determines whether one of these words is functioning normally or merely filling space.
That is why we kept the counter manual. It does not record the meeting, turn on a microphone, or rely on a transcript to make the judgment. The person serving as Ah-Counter listens and decides; the interface handles the bookkeeping.
You can use it in the browser on a phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop, with no account required for the live counter. If you use it regularly, you can also install speaking.app as a web app, but installation is optional.
For the role script and a neutral report example, see our separate Toastmasters Ah-Counter guide.
Count without losing your place
A paper tally sheet splits your attention between the speaker and the page.
With a paper grid, you hear something, look down, find the right row and column, make a mark, and find your place in the speech again. Lose your place on the page and you may miss the next filler. Then, just before giving the report, you still have to add everything up.
We wanted a count to take as little attention as possible.
In the app, each speaker has a separate card, with a large button for every filler. Tap to add one or long-press to remove a mistake. The number updates immediately, with visual feedback and a short vibration on supported devices. Notes stay with the speaker, and moving to the next person does not mean rebuilding a paper grid.
The mobile layout keeps the counter under one thumb, with “Long pause” alongside filler sounds, repeated words, and restarts.
Preview the report before you speak
When it is time to give the report, the Ah-Counter should not have to do the math while everyone waits.
By then, the counter has already added the totals. Switching from Edit to Preview shows each person’s overall count, most frequent fillers, and breakdown by word. That leaves the Ah-Counter free to decide what is useful to say.
The report separates the totals and recurring patterns for each speaker.
Because the role covers everyone who speaks, each person gets a separate section. Fillers, repeated words, restarts, and long pauses stay separate too, so speakers can make sense of their own results in context.
Toastmasters includes overlong pauses in the Ah-Counter role. That is why Long pause appears in the English counter by default. It is still a human judgment: an intentional pause for emphasis should not automatically be counted as a problem.
The report also shows the meeting totals as bar and donut charts, making it easier to see which verbal patterns appeared most often.
The report can switch between a count-based bar chart and a proportional donut chart.
Toastmasters also encourages constructive reporting. Its article on improving the Ah-Counter report recommends focusing on a speaker’s main crutch word, avoiding unnecessarily embarrassing numerical callouts, and recognizing effective pauses. The point is awareness, not embarrassment.
Keep the report only when it is useful
The spoken report is brief. If the only record is a paper tally sheet, the detail behind it can disappear with the sheet after the meeting.
You should not need an account just to count fillers, so the live counter works without one. A free account is only needed if you decide to save the session or create a shareable report link. Anyone with the link can open the report in a browser.
The shared report shows what someone sees after opening a report link rather than the Ah-Counter’s editing screen.
You can open the same live example report to see the shared report in context.
If a club wants a private history, it can keep the Ah-Counter report beside the Timer report for the same meeting in a Club Home. Club Home keeps the individual reports; it does not yet calculate trends across meetings.
A saved report lets members revisit what was observed before a future speech.
Let the tool manage the totals
The Ah-Counter still does the part that calls for judgment: listening and deciding what counts. The tool keeps each tally with the right speaker, adds the totals, and prepares the report.
The next article in this series explains how we designed the Speech Timer for the full Timer role.
You can try the free Filler Counter in your browser. No account or microphone is needed to start.
speaking.app is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Toastmasters International. Product details and source links were checked on September 3, 2026.
