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Mac dictation with hearing aids: keep the good microphone and the good sound

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Mac dictation with Bluetooth hearing aids works best when the Mac's own microphone does the listening and the aids only play sound. When a hearing aid's or a headset's microphone is in use, Bluetooth switches to a mode built for calls, the sound quality drops, and the dictation app hears you at phone quality. YapToText records from the microphone you choose, so pick the Mac's microphone once and the aids keep their full sound.

I wear hearing aids in both ears, Phonak Spheres, which I wrote about in my article on programming them myself. My hands make typing difficult, so dictating with the aids in is my daily setup, not theory. On my Mac the aids show up as a microphone at 8 kHz, phone quality, while the built-in microphone runs at 48 kHz. Version 1.5.2 rebuilt the app's handling around exactly that, and the same applies to any Bluetooth headset with a microphone.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

On this page: 10 sections
  1. Steps
  2. Why the aids take over the microphone
  3. Pick the Mac's microphone in YapToText
  4. Set the Mac's microphone for every other app
  5. Why music dropped to phone quality after a dictation
  6. If it still hears you badly
  7. Made for iPhone hearing aids and AirPods Pro
  8. What it cannot do
  9. The short version
  10. Questions

Steps

  1. Click the capybara in the menu bar, open the Input picker, and choose the Mac's built-in microphone.
  2. In Settings, General, Microphone, say a sentence and check that the meter reaches the green-to-yellow zone.
  3. In System Settings, Sound, Input, select the Mac's own microphone so other apps leave the aids alone too.
  4. Keep the hearing aids as the output, and dictate as usual.

Why the aids take over the microphone

Bluetooth audio has two modes, and Apple's support article on reduced sound quality explains them: one is for listening at full quality, and the other is for speaking and listening at once. While an app uses the headset's microphone, Bluetooth stays in that second mode, and the sound quality drops until the microphone is released. Hearing aids that connect like a headset, as mine do, behave the same way.

When my aids connect, macOS often makes them the default input as well as the output, and any app that opens the default input pulls them into the call mode. My aids are better at being hearing aids than at being microphones, and that is not a complaint. Some apps also open whatever the default is at the moment they start, and in my testing Apple's standard audio engine could not hold a chosen microphone that runs at a different rate from the default, which is exactly the case with an 8 kHz hearing aid and a 48 kHz built-in microphone. The fix is an app that holds your choice of microphone.

Pick the Mac's microphone in YapToText

Since 1.5.2, YapToText records from the microphone you choose and leaves the aids' microphone alone, so the aids keep their full sound. You pick it once:

  • You: Click the capybara in the menu bar, open the Input picker and choose the Mac's built-in microphone. The same choice is in Settings, General, Microphone, Input source.
  • YapToText: Listens to that microphone for every dictation. If it is ever unplugged, the app falls back to the system default.
  • Check: In Settings, General, Microphone, say a sentence. The Live input level meter should reach the green-to-yellow zone without sitting in the red, and your aids should keep sounding the way they did before you spoke.
YapToText's menu bar panel: Start Dictation, mode and microphone pickers, Transcribe file, Regenerate and Insert last.
Figure 1. The Input picker sits beside the mode picker in the menu bar panel. Here it is set to the Mac's own microphone, so the aids keep their full sound.

If the app ever cannot hold your pick, it says so instead of quietly recording the aids. The Microphone card on the Dictation page shows that dictation is using the aids, not the microphone you chose, along with the fix: make the Mac's microphone the default in System Settings, Sound, or disconnect the aids. Let the hearing aids do the hearing and the Mac do the listening.

Set the Mac's microphone for every other app

YapToText holds its own choice, but other apps may open whatever the system default is. To keep them off the aids' microphone too:

  • You: Open System Settings, Sound, click Input, and select the Mac's own microphone, listed with your Mac's name, such as MacBook Pro Microphone.
  • macOS: Makes it the default input, so apps that ask for the default get the Mac's microphone while the aids stay the output.
  • Check: Music in your aids stays at full quality when another app starts listening. Apple's guide to sound input settings has the details.

When the aids reconnect, macOS may make them the default again, so this is the first thing to look at if another app starts hearing you badly. Apple's own Dictation has a separate Microphone source setting in System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation, and Apple's Dictation guide explains it. One default for the Mac and one pick in YapToText keep the aids' microphone out of the way.

Why music dropped to phone quality after a dictation

This was the last piece of the 1.5.2 work. The aids stayed at full quality during a dictation but dropped to phone quality the moment music resumed afterward, because one call in the app touched the default input in the moment before playback restarted. The fix shipped in 1.5.2, and I measured it: the aids' output stayed at 44.1 kHz straight through a dictation and the resume. Since then Music comes back at full quality after every dictation.

Pause music and video while dictating, in the Recording card of the Dictation page and on by default, pauses playback when a dictation starts and resumes it at full quality when the dictation ends. If you hear the drop in another app, Apple's advice applies: quit the apps using the aids' microphone, make sure System Settings is not open on Sound settings, or switch the output to the Mac's speakers in Control Center and back to the aids. A drop in sound means something opened the aids' microphone.

YapToText's Dictation settings page on a Mac: the Keys, Recording, Microphone and Delivery cards.
Figure 2. Pause music and video while dictating, in the Recording card, is on by default: playback pauses when a dictation starts and resumes at full quality when it ends.

If it still hears you badly

Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

  1. Pick the Mac's microphone. In the menu bar panel's Input picker, or in Settings, General, Microphone, Input source.
  2. Watch the meter. In that same Microphone card, say a sentence. Normal speech should reach the green-to-yellow zone without sitting in the red; if it does not, raise Input boost. The rating underneath, from Excellent to Needs attention, says what to change.
  3. Read the Dictation page. Its Microphone card warns when dictation is using a different microphone than the one you chose, when the room or the fans are too loud for the microphone, and when your signal drops well below your own normal.
  4. Move closer, or quiet the room. Distance and anything running nearby, a fan or a printer, are the usual causes the app names.
  5. Quit call apps. The app's own microphone tip suggests quitting Teams or Zoom, which can turn your input down while they run. I have not measured how much that helps.
  6. Teach the words that keep failing. A dictionary entry fixes a word that comes out wrong the same way every time, and the Dictionaries page explains how.
YapToText's Settings, General tab: the Shortcuts card, the Auto mode card, and the Microphone card with a live input level meter.
Figure 3. Settings, General, Microphone: the input source set to the Mac's own microphone, and the live meter to watch while you say a sentence.

No setting can put back sound a microphone never caught. An 8 kHz microphone records less of your voice than a 48 kHz one, which is why the fix is a better microphone and not an equalizer. The troubleshooting guide covers the rest.

Made for iPhone hearing aids and AirPods Pro

Apple's guide to hearing devices with a Mac says Made for iPhone hearing devices pair with select Macs with the M1 chip and with every Mac with an M2 chip or later, in System Settings, Accessibility, Hearing Devices. It also says AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 with the Hearing Aid feature can have that feature adjusted from the Mac. I have tested only my own aids.

If your aids or AirPods appear under Input in Sound settings, the same steps apply; if they do not, the Mac's microphone is already doing the listening. Either way, keep the aids as the output, and they carry everything the Mac plays, VoiceOver included.

What it cannot do

  • Make a phone-quality microphone sound like the Mac's. If the aids are the only microphone, dictation runs at phone quality, and recognition suffers.
  • Vouch for every hearing aid. I have tested my own Phonak aids, not every model. The app's part is the same for any Bluetooth device whose microphone the Mac sees.
  • Caption other people. YapToText types what you say into your own microphone. For captions of what other people say, macOS has Live Captions, which Apple says processes audio on device, runs on Apple silicon Macs, and is not available in every language or region.
  • Promise anything on an Intel Mac. YapToText is built for Apple silicon with macOS 14 or later, and nothing has been tested on Intel.

The short version

  • Let the Mac listen. Pick its own microphone in YapToText's Input picker.
  • Let the aids play. Keep them as the output, and they keep their full sound.
  • Set the default too. System Settings, Sound, Input keeps other apps off the aids' microphone.

If you are setting this up for a parent, the guide for an older parent covers the rest of the setup, and dictation for tremor, Parkinson's, MS and ALS covers hands that shake or tire.

For any other microphone, from a headset to a USB microphone, the microphone guide covers choosing it and turning it on.

One choice of microphone fixes both the hearing and the sound. If your hearing aids behave differently, tell me on GitHub. Every issue gets read.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

About the author. Ryleigh Newman is a developer whose hands make typing difficult and who dictates every day with YapToText, the app this site describes. Facts about other apps come from their own sites, with the date they were read. More about the project.

Sources

Questions

Why does dictation hear me badly with hearing aids connected?

Because the hearing aids became the microphone, and a hearing aid's Bluetooth microphone runs at phone quality; mine show up at 8 kHz. Choose the Mac's own microphone in YapToText's Input picker or in System Settings, Sound, Input.

Why does my music sound worse after I dictate?

Bluetooth drops to a lower-quality mode whenever the aids' or headset's microphone is in use, and an app that opens that microphone, even for a moment, causes it. Since 1.5.2, YapToText records from the microphone you chose, and Music comes back at full quality after every dictation.

Can I dictate with hearing aids as the microphone?

You can, but recognition suffers at phone quality, and your sound drops for as long as the microphone is open. The Mac's own microphone is better on both counts, and the aids stay the output.

Does this apply to AirPods Pro used as hearing aids?

The same rule applies to any Bluetooth device whose microphone the Mac uses. If your AirPods show up under Input in Sound settings, pick the Mac's microphone instead and keep the AirPods as the output. I have tested only my own hearing aids.

Is there a speech to text app for the hearing impaired on Mac?

For captions of what other people say, macOS has Live Captions, which Apple says processes audio on device on Apple silicon Macs. YapToText is different: it types what you say into your own microphone.

Why is Mac dictation not working with an external microphone?

Check which microphone it is listening to. Apple Dictation has its own Microphone source setting in Keyboard settings, and YapToText has an Input picker in its menu bar panel, so pick the microphone you mean in each.