A Lisp at Work: Interviews, Presentations and Calls (What Research Says, and How Adults Practise)
Listeners do notice a lisp, but research on how it comes across is small and decades old, and adults who lisp describe a wide range of experiences. Whether to work on it is your choice. If you want to, daily practice on the words you use at work, and an SLP for the placement, are the routes with evidence.
The short answer
A lisp is noticeable, and people with one sometimes worry about how it comes across in an interview, a presentation or a phone call. The research on that question is thin: the listener studies are small and from the 1970s, and newer work focuses on what adults who lisp actually experience, which varies a lot.1,2,3
A lisp also isn’t rare. In one study of Dutch-speaking university students, recordings showed lisping in 23.3% of them; that’s one language and one group, but it suggests many working adults have one.5
What the research says, and its limits
| Study | Who | What it found | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mowrer, Wahl & Doolan (1978) | Adult listeners rating recorded male speakers | Speakers with a frontal lisp were rated lower on all five traits measured, including intelligence and speaking ability | Recordings, one era, male speakers only |
| Silverman (1976) | Listeners hearing a simulated lateral lisp | The lisp drew adverse attention to the speaker | Simulated lisp; small |
| Veríssimo et al. (2012) | 80 Brazilian Portuguese-speaking adults with residual S or R distortions | Few reported negative reactions; a minority felt it interfered with work or social life; many felt different and insecure in some speaking situations | One language; self-report |
| Lockenvitz, Oxley & Tetnowski (2022) | Interviews with seven adults who identify as having a lisp | Some experienced stigma from others, some felt it internally; experiences varied | Seven people; qualitative |
Studies on how a lisp is perceived and experienced. Small and mostly old: read them as signals, not verdicts.1,2,6,3
The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists notes that speech sound disorders can last into adulthood and affect employment and mental health. That’s a reason to take a lisp seriously if it bothers you, not a prediction about any one person.7
Changing it is a choice, not an obligation
Researchers who study lisping from a sociolinguistic angle argue for acknowledging adults who self-identify as lisping, rather than seeing a lisp only as a disorder to remove. Plenty of adults keep their lisp and are fine with it. Others decide to work on it, often for a specific reason: a new role, more presenting, or simply wanting to stop thinking about it.4
Practising the words you use at work
Practice that carries over is practice on the words you actually say. Motor-learning research favours many short tries spread across days, so a few minutes on your own working vocabulary beats an hour on a random list.9
- 1List the S and Z words you say most at work: your name, job title, company, products, numbers (“six”, “seventy”), and phrases like “sounds good” and “let’s see”.
- 2Say each one slowly, then at normal speed. Record and listen back.
- 3Put them into the sentences you really use: introductions, meeting openers, phone greetings.
- 4Before an interview or a presentation, run a two-minute warm-up with those sentences.
Free Lisp Test
Choose “Myself (18 or older)”, say three words and answer a few questions about what you heard. A preliminary screen, not a diagnosis; it never names a lisp type.
In SpeechStep practice, the AI catches swapped sounds on S and Z, such as a TH where the S should be, and asks you to try again when it isn’t confident. It doesn’t detect a lisp or name a lisp type.
- Lisp exercises — the S ladder step by step
- Lisp reading passage — three paragraphs to hear your S and Z
When to see a speech-language pathologist
If your S sounds wet or slushy, if you can’t make a clear S at all, or if you want it addressed efficiently before a specific event, a speech-language pathologist can assess the pattern and teach the placement. Treatment research for residual errors in teens and adults exists, though most of it is about R and the research on S is thin.10,8
- Speech therapy for adults — who to see, online or in person
Practise your own speech, one sound at a time
Free with an account: your first practice day is a full session of 14 words, then 5 words a day, with AI feedback on the sounds it supports. SpeechStep is practice, not therapy, and it doesn’t diagnose.
Need a licensed professional? Where to find a speech-language pathologist
Frequently asked questions
Will a lisp hurt my career?＋
There’s no good evidence either way for today’s workplaces. Listener studies from the 1970s found people rated lisping speakers less favourably, but they were small, used recordings rather than real colleagues, and are decades old. Many adults who lisp do well at work; whether to change it is your choice.
Should I mention my lisp in a job interview?＋
That’s a personal decision, and there’s no research telling you which works better. Some people find naming it lightly takes the pressure off; others prefer not to mention it. Practising your answers aloud, including the words you’ll say most, helps either way.
Can an adult get rid of a lisp?＋
Many adults can change how they make S and Z, though treatment research on S in adults is thin compared with R. A speech-language pathologist can teach the tongue placement; short daily practice makes it automatic. Whether to work on it is up to you.
How common is a lisp in adults?＋
More common than many people assume. In one study of Dutch-speaking university students, recordings showed lisping in 23.3% of them. That’s one language and one student group, so treat it as a sign that a lisp isn’t rare, not as a universal figure.
Does the lisp test tell me what kind of lisp I have?＋
No. SpeechStep’s lisp test is a preliminary screen of S and Z based on what you hear, and it never names a lisp type. In practice, the AI catches swapped sounds, such as a TH where the S should be. Only a speech-language pathologist can tell you what kind of lisp it is.
Practise your own speech, one sound at a time
Free with an account: your first practice day is a full session of 14 words, then 5 words a day, with AI feedback on the sounds it supports. SpeechStep is practice, not therapy, and it doesn’t diagnose.
Need a licensed professional? Where to find a speech-language pathologist
References
10 sources from authoritative bodies. Last reviewed October 2026.
- 1.Peer-reviewedMowrer, Wahl & Doolan — Effect of Lisping on Audience Evaluation of Male Speakers — Peer-reviewed study, 1978.
- 2.Peer-reviewedSilverman — Listeners’ impressions of speakers with lateral lisps — Peer-reviewed study, 1976.
- 3.Peer-reviewedLockenvitz, Oxley & Tetnowski — The experience of stigma in adults who lisp — Peer-reviewed qualitative study, 2022.
- 4.Peer-reviewedLockenvitz, Tetnowski & Oxley — The sociolinguistics of lisping: a review — Peer-reviewed review, 2020.
- 5.Peer-reviewedVan Borsel, Van Rentergem & Verhaeghe — The prevalence of lisping in young adults — Peer-reviewed prevalence study, 2007.
- 6.Peer-reviewedVeríssimo, Van Borsel & de Britto Pereira — Residual /s/ and /r/ distortions: The perspective of the speaker — Peer-reviewed survey study, 2012.
- 7.Royal College of Speech and Language TherapistsSpeech sound disorders – overview — Professional body clinical information (last updated 2024), 2024.
- 8.Peer-reviewedShields & Hopf — Intervention for residual speech errors in adolescents and adults: A systematised review — Systematised review, 2023.
- 9.AJSLP (ASHA)Maas et al. — Principles of Motor Learning in Treatment of Motor Speech Disorders — Tutorial/review, 2008.
- 10.ASHASpeech Sound Disorders: Articulation and Phonology — Practice Portal page.