diff --git a/lib/tasks/gather.js b/lib/tasks/gather.js
index a7e1d7e2..d19a3b3c 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/gather.js
+++ b/lib/tasks/gather.js
@@ -686,6 +686,9 @@ class TaskGather extends SttTask {
               this.logger.debug('TaskGather:_onTranscription - got speech_final waiting for UtteranceEnd event');
               return;
             }
+
+            /* deepgram can send an empty and final transcript; only if we have any buffered should we resolve */
+            if (this._bufferedTranscripts.length === 0) return;
             this.logger.debug({evt}, 'TaskGather:_onTranscription - compiling deepgram transcripts');
             evt = this.consolidateTranscripts(this._bufferedTranscripts, 1, this.language);
             this._bufferedTranscripts = [];