diff --git a/lib/tasks/gather.js b/lib/tasks/gather.js
index f08e02a4..30eef07f 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/gather.js
+++ b/lib/tasks/gather.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
 
     [
       'finishOnKey', 'hints', 'input', 'numDigits',
-      'partialResultHook',
+      'partialResultHook', 'bargein',
       'speechTimeout', 'timeout', 'say', 'play'
     ].forEach((k) => this[k] = this.data[k]);
 
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
       const {enable, voiceMs = 0, mode = -1} = recognizer.vad || {};
       this.vad = {enable, voiceMs, mode};
 
+      this.listenDuringPrompt = this.data.listenDuringPrompt === false ? false : true;
+      this.minBargeinWordCount = this.data.minBargeinWordCount || 1;
+
       /* aws options */
       this.vocabularyName = recognizer.vocabularyName;
       this.vocabularyFilterName = recognizer.vocabularyFilterName;
@@ -84,22 +87,36 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
       throw new Error(`no speech-to-text service credentials for ${this.vendor} have been configured`);
     }
 
+    const startListening = (cs, ep) => {
+      this._startTimer();
+      if (this.input.includes('speech') && !this.listenDuringPrompt) {
+        this._initSpeech(cs, ep)
+          .then(() => {
+            this._startTranscribing(ep);
+            return updateSpeechCredentialLastUsed(this.sttCredentials.speech_credential_sid);
+          })
+          .catch(() => {});
+      }
+    };
+
     try {
       if (this.sayTask) {
         this.sayTask.exec(cs, ep);  // kicked off, _not_ waiting for it to complete
         this.sayTask.on('playDone', (err) => {
-          if (!this.killed) this._startTimer();
+          if (err) return this.logger.error({err}, 'Gather:exec Error playing tts');
+          this.logger.debug('Gather: say task completed');
         });
       }
       else if (this.playTask) {
         this.playTask.exec(cs, ep);  // kicked off, _not_ waiting for it to complete
         this.playTask.on('playDone', (err) => {
-          if (!this.killed) this._startTimer();
+          if (err) return this.logger.error({err}, 'Gather:exec Error playing url');
+          if (!this.killed) startListening(cs, ep);
         });
       }
       else this._startTimer();
 
-      if (this.input.includes('speech')) {
+      if (this.input.includes('speech') && this.listenDuringPrompt) {
         await this._initSpeech(cs, ep);
         this._startTranscribing(ep);
         updateSpeechCredentialLastUsed(this.sttCredentials.speech_credential_sid)
@@ -207,7 +224,7 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
     ep.startTranscription({
       vendor: this.vendor,
       locale: this.language,
-      interim: this.partialResultCallback ? true : false,
+      interim: this.partialResultCallback || this.bargein,
     }).catch((err) => {
       const {writeAlerts, AlertType} = this.cs.srf.locals;
       this.logger.error(err, 'TaskGather:_startTranscribing error');
@@ -263,9 +280,21 @@ class TaskGather extends Task {
     }
     this.logger.debug(evt, 'TaskGather:_onTranscription');
     if (evt.is_final) this._resolve('speech', evt);
-    else if (this.partialResultHook) {
-      this.cs.requestor.request('verb:hook', this.partialResultHook,  Object.assign({speech: evt}, this.cs.callInfo))
-        .catch((err) => this.logger.info(err, 'GatherTask:_onTranscription error'));
+    else {
+      if (this.bargein && evt.alternatives[0].transcript.split(' ').length >= this.minBargeinWordCount) {
+        this.logger.debug('Gather:_onTranscription - killing audio due to bargein');
+        this._killAudio(cs);
+      }
+      else {
+        if (this.bargein && evt.alternatives[0].transcript.split(' ').length >= this.minBargeinWordCount) {
+          this.logger.debug('Gather:_onTranscription - killing audio due to bargein');
+          this._killAudio(cs);
+        }
+        if (this.partialResultHook) {
+          this.cs.requestor.request(this.partialResultHook,  Object.assign({speech: evt}, this.cs.callInfo))
+            .catch((err) => this.logger.info(err, 'GatherTask:_onTranscription error'));
+        }
+      }
     }
   }
   _onEndOfUtterance(cs, ep) {
diff --git a/lib/tasks/say.js b/lib/tasks/say.js
index d19748ce..2cf3331f 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/say.js
+++ b/lib/tasks/say.js
@@ -80,7 +80,11 @@ class TaskSay extends Task {
             const {memberId, confName, confUuid} = cs;
             await this.playToConfMember(this.ep, memberId, confName, confUuid, filepath[segment]);
           }
-          else await ep.play(filepath[segment]);
+          else {
+            this.logger.debug(`Say:exec sending command to play file ${filepath[segment]}`);
+            await ep.play(filepath[segment]);
+            this.logger.debug(`Say:exec completed play file ${filepath[segment]}`);
+          }
         } while (!this.killed && ++segment < filepath.length);
       }
     } catch (err) {
diff --git a/lib/tasks/specs.json b/lib/tasks/specs.json
index 76171ca2..6878491c 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/specs.json
+++ b/lib/tasks/specs.json
@@ -100,6 +100,9 @@
       "numDigits": "number",
       "partialResultHook": "object|string",
       "speechTimeout": "number",
+      "listenDuringPrompt": "boolean",
+      "bargein": "boolean",
+      "minBargeinWordCount": "number",
       "timeout": "number",
       "recognizer": "#recognizer",
       "play": "#play",