Backchanneling

The verbal and non-verbal signals that listeners produce during conversation to indicate engagement, understanding, agreement, or encouragement without taking a full speaking turn. Backchanneling includes utterances like "uh-huh," "mm-hmm," "yeah," and "right," as well as non-verbal cues like nods, facial expressions, and eye contact. Backchanneling constitutes approximately 19% of spoken dialogue and is essential for maintaining conversational flow. For AAC users, backchanneling is particularly challenging because device use demands visual attention, typing quick responses is too slow, and the conversation often moves on before a response can be produced.