Dictation not work for some time

Hello mars9728,

Thanks for posting in the Apple Support Communities. We're happy to look into this with you. Have you tried resetting the NVRAM for your Mac previously? If not, you might find this action to be helpful with the microphone issue. The NVRAM, although it can vary by Mac, is a small amount of memory that is used to store and access some system settings like sound volume, display resolution, time zone, etc.

The steps for performing a NVRAM reset, only applicable on Intel-based Mac's, are provided below and for more details, check out Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support.

If you have an Intel-based Mac

If you're not using a Mac with Apple silicon, you're using an Intel-based Mac.

How to reset NVRAM

1. Shut down your Mac.

2. Turn on your Mac, then immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, R.

3. Release the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to restart. For example, you might hear a startup sound more than once, or see the Apple logo more than once.

4. When your Mac finishes starting up, you might need to adjust any system settings that were reset.

Another step you might try is to boot up in safe mode. You'll want to test to see if the issue persist while in safe mode, and after booting out of safe mode. This process prevents your Mac from loading certain software like login items, some system extensions and will perform a basic check of your startup disk, similar to First Aid. For full details about safe mode and how to move forward based on the outcome of your testing, check out How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support.

Best regards.

We appreciate you clarifying this for us, mars9728,

What happened when you tested in safe mode? Were you able to recreate the same behavior?

We'd also like to have you test this behavior in a new user Administrator account to help us determine if it's isolated to this account or system wide. To set up a new user account on your Mac, you can follow the steps outlined here to do so: New user or group setup on Mac - Apple Support

"To add a new user or group, choose Apple menu  > System Settings, click Users & Groups  in the sidebar, then click New Account on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)

Note: You may need to enter your password to access the New Account window.

Option

Description

New Account

Choose the type of account you want to set up:

• A type of user: Administrator, Standard, or Sharing Only
• A group

See Add a user or group on Mac.

Full Name

Enter the full name for a user or group.

Account Name

Enter the account name that is generated automatically for a new user. The account name is sometimes called a short name, because it’s usually a shorter version of the full name or a name you created. You can change the account name now, but you can’t change it after setting up the account.

The account name is used to name the user’s home folder, and it can also be used as the login name.

Password, Verify, and Password Hint

Create a password and password hint for a new user. Enter a password for a new user in the Required and Verify fields, then enter a hint that can help the user remember the password. To use Password Assistant, click the key  next to the Password field. See Tips for creating secure passwords.

Create User or Create Group

Finish setting up a new user by clicking Create User. To finish setting up a new group, click Create Group."

We look forward to your reply.

Take care!