diff --git a/lib/tasks/gather.js b/lib/tasks/gather.js
index 3a34b9b2..ae063f9a 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/gather.js
+++ b/lib/tasks/gather.js
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
       this.hints = recognizer.hints || [];
       this.hintsBoost = recognizer.hintsBoost;
       this.altLanguages = recognizer.altLanguages || [];
+      this.punctuation = !!recognizer.punctuation;
 
       /* vad: if provided, we dont connect to recognizer until voice activity is detected */
       const {enable, voiceMs = 0, mode = -1} = recognizer.vad || {};
@@ -156,9 +157,12 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
     }
     ep.removeCustomEventListener(GoogleTranscriptionEvents.Transcription);
     ep.removeCustomEventListener(GoogleTranscriptionEvents.EndOfUtterance);
+    ep.removeCustomEventListener(GoogleTranscriptionEvents.VadDetected);
     ep.removeCustomEventListener(AwsTranscriptionEvents.Transcription);
+    ep.removeCustomEventListener(AwsTranscriptionEvents.VadDetected);
     ep.removeCustomEventListener(AzureTranscriptionEvents.Transcription);
     ep.removeCustomEventListener(AzureTranscriptionEvents.NoSpeechDetected);
+    ep.removeCustomEventListener(AzureTranscriptionEvents.VadDetected);
   }
 
   kill(cs) {
@@ -214,7 +218,8 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
       Object.assign(opts, {
         GOOGLE_SPEECH_USE_ENHANCED: true,
         GOOGLE_SPEECH_SINGLE_UTTERANCE: true,
-        GOOGLE_SPEECH_MODEL: 'command_and_search'
+        GOOGLE_SPEECH_MODEL: 'command_and_search',
+        GOOGLE_SPEECH_ENABLE_AUTOMATIC_PUNCTUATION: this.punctuation
       });
       if (this.hints && this.hints.length > 1) {
         opts.GOOGLE_SPEECH_HINTS = this.hints.map((h) => h.trim()).join(',');
@@ -230,6 +235,7 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
       }
       ep.addCustomEventListener(GoogleTranscriptionEvents.Transcription, this._onTranscription.bind(this, cs, ep));
       ep.addCustomEventListener(GoogleTranscriptionEvents.EndOfUtterance, this._onEndOfUtterance.bind(this, cs, ep));
+      ep.addCustomEventListener(GoogleTranscriptionEvents.VadDetected, this._onVadDetected.bind(this, cs, ep));
     }
     else if (['aws', 'polly'].includes(this.vendor)) {
       if (this.vocabularyName) opts.AWS_VOCABULARY_NAME = this.vocabularyName;
@@ -245,6 +251,7 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
         });
       }
       ep.addCustomEventListener(AwsTranscriptionEvents.Transcription, this._onTranscription.bind(this, cs, ep));
+      ep.addCustomEventListener(AwsTranscriptionEvents.VadDetected, this._onVadDetected.bind(this, cs, ep));
     }
     else if ('microsoft' === this.vendor) {
       if (this.sttCredentials) {
@@ -257,13 +264,14 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
         opts.AZURE_SPEECH_HINTS = this.hints.map((h) => h.trim()).join(',');
       }
       if (this.requestSnr) opts.AZURE_REQUEST_SNR = 1;
-      if (this.profanityOption !== 'raw') opts.AZURE_PROFANITY_OPTION = this.profanityOption;
+      if (this.profanityOption && this.profanityOption !== 'raw') opts.AZURE_PROFANITY_OPTION = this.profanityOption;
       if (this.azureServiceEndpoint) opts.AZURE_SERVICE_ENDPOINT = this.azureServiceEndpoint;
       if (this.initialSpeechTimeoutMs > 0) opts.AZURE_INITIAL_SPEECH_TIMEOUT_MS = this.initialSpeechTimeoutMs;
       opts.AZURE_USE_OUTPUT_FORMAT_DETAILED = 1;
 
       ep.addCustomEventListener(AzureTranscriptionEvents.Transcription, this._onTranscription.bind(this, cs, ep));
       ep.addCustomEventListener(AzureTranscriptionEvents.NoSpeechDetected, this._onNoSpeechDetected.bind(this, cs, ep));
+      ep.addCustomEventListener(AzureTranscriptionEvents.VadDetected, this._onVadDetected.bind(this, cs, ep));
     }
     await ep.set(opts)
       .catch((err) => this.logger.info(err, 'Error setting channel variables'));
@@ -375,7 +383,7 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
     }
   }
   _onEndOfUtterance(cs, ep) {
-    this.logger.info('TaskGather:_onEndOfUtterance');
+    this.logger.debug('TaskGather:_onEndOfUtterance');
     if (this.bargein && this.minBargeinWordCount === 0) {
       this._killAudio(cs);
     }
@@ -385,6 +393,13 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
     }
   }
 
+  _onVadDetected(cs, ep) {
+    if (this.bargein && this.minBargeinWordCount === 0) {
+      this.logger.debug('TaskGather:_onVadDetected');
+      this._killAudio(cs);
+    }
+  }
+
   _onNoSpeechDetected(cs, ep) {
     this._resolve('timeout');
   }
diff --git a/lib/utils/constants.json b/lib/utils/constants.json
index b76d9fcf..028f9e60 100644
--- a/lib/utils/constants.json
+++ b/lib/utils/constants.json
@@ -59,19 +59,22 @@
     "Transcription": "google_transcribe::transcription",
     "EndOfUtterance": "google_transcribe::end_of_utterance",
     "NoAudioDetected": "google_transcribe::no_audio_detected",
-    "MaxDurationExceeded": "google_transcribe::max_duration_exceeded"
+    "MaxDurationExceeded": "google_transcribe::max_duration_exceeded",
+    "VadDetected": "google_transcribe::vad_detected"
   },
   "AwsTranscriptionEvents": {
     "Transcription": "aws_transcribe::transcription",
     "EndOfTranscript": "aws_transcribe::end_of_transcript",
     "NoAudioDetected": "aws_transcribe::no_audio_detected",
-    "MaxDurationExceeded": "aws_transcribe::max_duration_exceeded"
+    "MaxDurationExceeded": "aws_transcribe::max_duration_exceeded",
+    "VadDetected": "aws_transcribe::vad_detected"
   },
   "AzureTranscriptionEvents": {
     "Transcription": "azure_transcribe::transcription",
     "StartOfUtterance": "azure_transcribe::start_of_utterance",
     "EndOfUtterance": "azure_transcribe::end_of_utterance",
-    "NoSpeechDetected": "azure_transcribe::no_speech_detected"
+    "NoSpeechDetected": "azure_transcribe::no_speech_detected",
+    "VadDetected": "azure_transcribe::vad_detected"
   },
   "ListenEvents": {
     "Connect": "mod_audio_fork::connect",