Voice to Text not working on my iMac

[Sooz]

Hi, everyone! 

About a week and a half ago, my voice to text stopped working. It used to work pretty darn slick for when I was doing a document through MSWord, and it was really handy for emails through Gmail, too.  All of a sudden, it stopped working.  I didn't mess with anything!

I checked Preferences, & followed the very simple instructions I found online through googling, but it's still not working. 

When I tapped the (right side of the keyboard) Command key twice, a microphone icon popup box would appear to indicate I could start talking. The microphone was half white and half grey.

Now, the microphone box pops up, but the microphone icon is greyed out & it says "Done" underneath the icon. It won't do anything. Sometimes I get three little horizontal dots with a white interior and then the word Cancel.

Does anyone have any ideas about how I can get this back to working?  Even though I didn't mess with anything, it's probably user error...so when you respond, as always I appreciate step by step with pictures!   

I hope you are all sequestered and staying at home, and if you or loved ones happen to be health care workers, thank you so much for your sacrifice in working during the time of this pandemic, and I PRAY you have protective gear and masks to use!

Thanks!
Sooz

[Xairbusdriver]

First, do you hear any other sounds? If not, open the Sound Prefs in System Preferences. There is a slider control very near the bottom of the window. Hopefully, you will find a check mark in the little box labeled "Mute"?
As long as you have that Pref open, please select the "Input" tab and attach a screen capture of that window.
now go wash your hands...

[Sooz]

Hi, Jim,

Yes, I do hear other sounds. No, I didn't have "Mute" selected.

I'm attaching screenshots. 

Thanks! (You *know* I'm a hand-washer from decades of working with kiddos!!) 

[Highmac]

Sooz - Can you do another screenshot for Input while making a sound? Tap the desk, tap the computer even, and see if the input level lights show up. A shot in the dark from a near-Luddite, but it might be a bit more info for Jim  


(Posting at 12.45pm UK)

[Xairbusdriver]

Do you have anything plugged into the Output jack on the computer? Mine is right next to a similar jack and it is easy to plug into the wrong one. Anything plugged into the 'audio out' will silence the internal speakers.

When I tapped the (right side of the keyboard) Command key twice, a microphone icon popup box would appear to indicate I could start talking.

Where did you get that command? It may work, I've just never heard of it. There is a built-in keyboard command to "Speak selected text..." if you enable it: Option+ Esc
Did you perhaps change that keyboard shortcut, assuming you had that enabled?

1. While you have the Sound Pref open and "Input" selected, do you see any change in the "Input level" when you speak? Don't wake hubby, but the bars farther to the right should darken for a bit the louder the noise the mic 'hears'.

2. I am assuming you have the Volume showing in the Menu Bar. Does it also show some distance from the left side of the scale?

Another System Pref to check: Accessibility->Speech
3. Try selecting a different "Voice", the one you have may have laryngitis.

Might as well make sure all the other pieces of that Pref are still at default values: General, VoiceOver, Audio, Dictation, Speech, Keyboard, Switch Control even Siri
"Default" generally means UN-checked check-boxes. check...

[kimmer]

This article, with screenshots, might help. I had this problem long ago, and in my case I had turned on bluetooth and set my iMac to broadcast/play through my Alexa gadget. Turning that off solved the problem for me.

https://appletoolbox.com/mac-os-x-dictation-not-working-how-to-fix/

[Sooz]

Sooz - Can you do another screenshot for Input while making a sound? Tap the desk, tap the computer even, and see if the input level lights show up. A shot in the dark from a near-Luddite, but it might be a bit more info for Jim  
(Posting at 12.45pm UK)

Neil, when I tap anything, the input level light goes across the bar, usually to the third little thingy. When I try to do a screenshot, it goes back to input level nothing.  (I'm trying to do this detective work one post at a time, and it may take me some time lolam)

[Sooz]

Do you have anything plugged into the Output jack on the computer? Mine is right next to a similar jack and it is easy to plug into the wrong one. Anything plugged into the 'audio out' will silence the internal speakers.

When I tapped the (right side of the keyboard) Command key twice, a microphone icon popup box would appear to indicate I could start talking.

Where did you get that command? It may work, I've just never heard of it. There is a built-in keyboard command to "Speak selected text..." if you enable it: Option+ Esc
Did you perhaps change that keyboard shortcut, assuming you had that enabled?

1. While you have the Sound Pref open and "Input" selected, do you see any change in the "Input level" when you speak? Don't wake hubby, but the bars farther to the right should darken for a bit the louder the noise the mic 'hears'.

2. I am assuming you have the Volume showing in the Menu Bar. Does it also show some distance from the left side of the scale?

Another System Pref to check: Accessibility->Speech
3. Try selecting a different "Voice", the one you have may have laryngitis.

Might as well make sure all the other pieces of that Pref are still at default values: General, VoiceOver, Audio, Dictation, Speech, Keyboard, Switch Control even Siri
"Default" generally means UN-checked check-boxes. check...

Jim, I don't have anything plugged in that I haven't already had plugged in for years.  As for where I got that command, I was thinking about my voice to text on my phone and wondered if I could get it to work the same on my iMac, so I looked it up and google gave me a number of different ways I could do it...one way was press the right-side Command key twice, another way was press the left-side Command key twice, and there was one other way.   ALSO I found this on my computer Preferences.  Awesome, huh?   I'm attaching another screenshot.
I have not used any new keyboard shortcuts.

Maybe I misunderstood, but I don't really need things read to me, I just want to talk and have my words magically appear on a Word document or in the text block of my email that will be sent to someone.

[Sooz]

This article, with screenshots, might help. I had this problem long ago, and in my case I had turned on bluetooth and set my iMac to broadcast/play through my Alexa gadget. Turning that off solved the problem for me.

https://appletoolbox.com/mac-os-x-dictation-not-working-how-to-fix/

Hi, Kimmer and thanks for the article!  I don't have bluetooth turned on, and really, you're sweet to think I know how to do that!!!  Hubby has a Kindle Tablet thingy from months ago, and we turned off Alexa pretty easily--she has not come back even when her name is called out to the universe.

[Xairbusdriver]

I don't really need things read to me, I just want to talk and have my words magically appear on a Word document

Uh... yeah, that's called "Dictation", cleverly labeled as "Dictation & Speech" in System Prefs. You didn't miss-understand anything, it was all me. I mean, you did mention

my voice to text stopped working

right in your first post!

Anyway, even without a screen shot of the bouncing volume meter, we know that your mic is working. And I think we have established that your speaker works, so...

    you can kind of ignore all my posts between this one and
    your original post.

I gotta go! I hear SWMBO calling out "Dinner is served!"

[Sooz]

Oh, Jim, you sure can make me smile!     Thanks for that special skill you have, in addition to always being up for giving me instructions, step by step, with pictures b/c you know that really helps me!

SWMBO uses too many words. Around here, I call hubby by saying "Dinner."  He's not too far away and will often hover in the kitchen just to make sure I don't forget to say the magic word: Dinner.
Smiles,
Sooz

Admin Edit: There was a gap between the two, upper front teeth. I removed that through highly technical but painless orthodontic procedures. No charge.

[Xairbusdriver]

I'm thinking there may be some code corrupted in the Dictation system area. If you'd like to follow this method, make sure you have made at least one bootable backup (CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper, etc.). That does not include Time Machine, which should be running all the time anyway.

To restore the System via the Recovery 'drive', follow these simple instructions straight from the horses mouth. You'll want to use the regular, recommended command R method. That will simply restore your current OS, not a later or earlier version. This does not touch any of your own files or apps. It only creates new, clean versions of the System files and apps. It will take a bit of time. Being connected to the web may help if any files need to be downloaded from Apple.

I've done this a couple of times with Mojave macOS 10.14 and macOS 10.13 High Sierra. It was always successful and painless. Promise! "It won't hurt", he said! However, you may want to get other opinions from real experts.

[Sooz]

Jim, thanks for fixing the dental gap on the toothy grin!

You give me entirely too much credit for knowing how to use a bootable backup.  Gots 'em, don't know what to do next.  I think I'll just leave the possibly corrupted code as it. I can type, after all      

Thanks for the detailed instructions about restoring the system by way of the recovery drive! You know how my brain works! 

Smiles, stay safe, stay healthy, disinfect yourself & everything often, oh and wash your hands too!
Sooz

[Sooz]

How I Dood It (again, channeling my inner Red Skelton)...but with screenshots!
Ok, I think I have these screenshots in order for ya. 
I went to System Preferences and selected Dictation & Speech. 

When I do speech to text, it's a bit wonky, and sometimes the text doubles up on what I've said, and then there's this little pop up box off to the right that I ignore and have not taken a screenshot of it yet.  My elocution has vestiges of my native language (gibberish) so I always have to re-read stuff to make sure I don't have odd words that don't belong.

It's still a mystery how it used to work, then didn't, and now is restored...and all without me messing with anything in between!
Smiles,
Sooz

[Xairbusdriver]

Thanks!!

I’m bettin’ it was the shortcut. I notice my wife sometimes presses a key twice by mistake. Having just one key for a shortcut is a rather poor user interface, in my opinion. Obviously, it must be a key that is rarely used in writing... anything! It is just to easy to miss having a key repeat when nothing changes on the screen; the user has no feedback (unless there is a sound or a menu at flash). Of course, with a non-typing qualifier, hunt-and-peck “typist”, it’s easier to “see” the mistake.

I never knew this shortcut was even available! Perhaps you can remember it. Perhaps you might want to change the command to something more nemonic but less error prone? Something a bit more deliberate; command-s-h-u-t-u-p