How to Enable Speech Recognition on a Mac

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By Bennett Gavrish
eHow Contributing Writer

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Screenshot of the Speech Recognition control panel.

In Apple's Mac OS X operating system, users can control their computer with a utility called Speech Recognition. Speech Recognition is controlled in System Preferences and allows computer users to speak basic commands to their system. This allows Mac users to control different aspects of their computer, including applications like Mail, Safari and Address Book, without using a keyboard or mouse. This article explains how to enable Speech Recognition on a Mac.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Mac running OS X 10.4 or later

Step 1

Open System Preferences by clicking on the icon in the dock.
Step 2

Go to the "Speech" control panel underneath the "System" heading.
Step 3

Click on the "Speech Recognition" tab at the top of the control panel window.
Step 4

Click the "On" radio button next to "Speakable Items" to enable Speech Recognition.
Step 5

Choose an audio input device from the "Microphone" drop-down menu.