Dictation not working - Mac Ventura 13.2.1

Hi Numbfingers,

The support page If Dictation on Mac doesn’t work as expected offers the following suggestions:

• "Be sure Dictation is turned on in the Keyboard settings.
• Note: If you can’t turn on Dictation, Screen Time Content & Privacy Restrictions may be preventing you from using it. A family organizer for a Family Sharing group can set up Screen Time for a child and restrict access to Siri & Dictation. See Change App Restrictions settings in Screen Time. Also, when Voice Control is on, you can’t use Dictation.
• Choose the correct language and dialect. See Dictate messages and documents.
• Be sure you’re using the correct dictation keyboard shortcut.
• Be sure your system has a valid internet connection—choose Apple menu  > System Settings, then click Network  in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)"

To help determine if your equipment may be responsible, see Control your Mac and apps using Voice Control. If you are able to use Voice Control as expected, then the concern will be limited to dictation and it can be presumed your microphone is compatible and working.

Regards.

Although I can launch Dictation in Ventura 13.2.1 and it works OK for a few hours, it suddenly crashes silently without logs in Console and requires a hard restart of my M2 Mac Mini to get it working again. This is a daily occurrence (I am a heavy Dictation user) so I end up having to start the Mac Mini two or three times each day. I have filed about five bug reports using Feedback Assistant with attached system diagnostics files when the crash happens but there has been no feedback from Apple. This is getting tiring!

I use a Sony stereo broadcast quality lapel mic through an Andrea AK5370 DAC to a USB port.

I have the same problem. I haven't fixed it but I have found a way to solve the problem temporarily. Turn off and on dictation in system settings. Alternatively, activate Siri and ask something. After doing either of these things the dictation seems to work for a good while until it plays up again.

I've recently had the same problem since a Ventura update yesterday to 13.3.1. After reading the fixes here, I went to keyboard in system settings. While "dictation" was turned on, I noticed "external microphone" was selected, which was not the case. I changed it to "MacBook Pro microphone" and, as you can see, it is working fine as I am dictating this post!

Hey Numbfingers,

We'd recommend contacting Apple Support for further assistance here: Get Support

Thanks!

The Siri activation before using dictation worked for me.