When people are telling me something and they, "um" and "uh" all the way through it, its like needles in my brain. What do people do that's the same for you?

A relative was born with severe brain damage causing learning difficulties. He had to learn how to converse at a much later stage in a far more 'mechanical' way (can't think of a better word) rather than the organic way most children learn. He starts every sentence or statement with "guess what" or some other opener, and has to wait for a response. He'd find it very odd and challenging to not continue his sentence without a response or affirmation that the other person is listening and engaged in the conversation. I think the method is called call-and-response. It's simply how he learned to talk and it's completely natural to him in a way which others may find odd or perhaps annoying if they're not used to talking to him. There's also other cultures and languages where 'backchannelling' is considered normal and polite. For example, repeatedly sure "yes" or "ok" might not necessarily mean agreement. It's an expression that the listener is actively listening, wishes to continue to listen, and doesn't intend to interrupt. We all have our preferences with language but it's important to remember that language and communication is a messy negotiation between two or more people without definite, clear-cut rules. What one person might find annoying might be completely natural to someone else. In fact some might consider it rude to not use phatic expressions or fillers, I've sometimes been called too blunt or a bit cold for talking what I'd consider to just be an efficient way of talking.