Before you can give spoken commands to your computer, you need to connect a PlainTalk microphone (or equivalent), and choose the correct microphone setting in the Sound control panel.

To check your microphone:

•	Make sure you are using a PlainTalk microphone or equivalent (an AV monitor, USB microphone, built-in computer microphone, or some third-party microphones), and that it's properly attached to your computer.
	Note: Apple's PlainTalk microphone is shaped like a half moon. The older round Apple microphones cannot be used for speech recognition.
•	Position the microphone on top of your monitor (if possible) with the Apple icon facing you. Sit between one and three feet in front of the microphone when giving commands.
•	Make sure the microphone selected in the Sound control panel menu matches the microphone you're using. Open the Sound control panel for me.
	If you have a PlainTalk microphone connected to your computer, choose External Mic. If you have an AV monitor or an internal microphone, select one of the internal microphone settings.

Related topic

Using spoken commands to work with your computer