Why is my dictation not accurate, and how to fix it
Most dictation problems are one of five things, and four of them take a minute to fix. The fifth needs better software.
- The five causes, in order of likelihood
- Mic distance matters more than mic price
- Modern AI engines vs the built-ins
uh tell Alex I like the direction but the design still feels a bit too busy and maybe we should simplify the top section before Friday
Hey Alex, I like the direction overall. The top section still feels a little busy, so I think we should simplify it before Friday. Can you take another pass?
Tap a tone, same thought, reframed.
Check the physical layer first
Distance and noise dominate accuracy. Talk within arm's length of the mic, or use earbuds with a decent microphone, and move away from fans, music, and echoey rooms. If you compare the same sentence on your phone's mic versus old Bluetooth earbuds, the difference is often dramatic: many earbuds record voice at walkie-talkie quality.
Then the settings
Make sure the dictation language matches what you actually speak, including regional variants. Update your keyboard or speech services. If you mix languages mid-sentence, pick the engine that handles that; most built-ins do not, and modern AI transcription models like the ones Speechy uses handle mixed speech far better.
When the words are right and the text is still wrong
Often the transcription is accurate and the result is still unusable: no punctuation, no paragraphs, your false starts transcribed faithfully. That is not an accuracy problem, it is a writing problem. An AI formatting pass, which is exactly what Speechy adds, removes the filler, fixes the structure, and returns text you can actually send.
More than transcription, it frames the message.
Speak or type the messy version, and Speechy hands back the sendable one: the right tone, structure and context, in whatever app you're already in.
Framing, not transcription
Most voice apps stop at words on a page. Speechy gives you the message: the right tone, structure and context, ready to send.
Voice or messy text in
Speak it or type it. Either way you skip the part where you decide how to phrase it, and go straight to a sendable draft.
Native everywhere you think
macOS, Windows, iPhone and Android, including a real framing keyboard on mobile. Capture the thought wherever it happens.
Frames you can reuse and share
Turn the messages you dread into one-tap structures. Save your own, and (soon) share the best ones with everyone else.
Good questions, straight answers.
Why does my dictation keep getting words wrong?
In order of likelihood: mic too far away, background noise, a low-quality Bluetooth mic, wrong language setting, or an outdated speech engine. Fix those before blaming yourself.
Which dictation engine is most accurate?
Large AI models (the Whisper family and successors) generally beat built-in OS engines, especially with accents and mixed languages. Speechy uses these models on every platform.
Stop rewriting your thoughts.
Say the messy version. Send the clean one. Speechy turns it into something sendable in seconds, on every device you think on.