Cortana is a useful and really important feature on Windows 10. From what we used to know, Cortana has evolved a lot now. However, it still possesses some problems with its functioning and one of the major examples is how people cannot hear her speak. This happens due to many reasons out there, which include outdated Audio Drivers, outdated Windows, and even flaws in the privacy and permission settings.
Fix Can’t Hear Cortana speak in Windows 10
There are, of course, ways to fix the issue. We’ll list them down one by one in the guide below and following the fixes from beginning to end will hopefully solve this issue for you. Everything listed below is possible fixes so we suggest that you try out each one of them. So without further delays, we’ll get right on to our guide on fixing can’t hear Cortana speak in Windows 10.
1. Update the Audio Driver
- To start with, type in Device Manager in the Windows search bar and open the Device Manager from the results
- Next, find you Audio Driver under Sound, video, and game controllers, right-click on it can choose to Uninstall the device
- After uninstalling the Audio Driver, go to Settings(Windows key + I)→Apps→Optional features
- From there, scroll through and find all text-to-speech features
- Click on these features and choose the manage option. Then, remove everything that you can
- Then, in order to finally update your Audio Driver, simply check for the latest driver from your motherboard’s manufacturer’s website, download, and install it
- Then, go back inside Settings(Windows key + I)→Apps→Optional features and open every text-to-speech feature. Then, click on the Add a Preferred Language option
- Next, find US and UK languages. Click on the language and then click the Next button. Then, check or uncheck the available option and click the Install button.
2. Check the Privacy Settings for Cortana
- For this, go to Settings(Windows key + I)
- From there, go into the Privacy section
- When inside privacy, go into the Microphone section from the left pane
- When you’re inside the microphone section, scroll down in the right pane to the list of apps. From them, find Cortana and see if the toggle switch to its right is toggled on. If it’s not, simply click on the toggle switch to give Cortana access to your microphone, and it should hopefully solve the problem.
3. Make sure your headset is paired properly
This happens for many users using a wireless headset with their PC. Reports show that they can’t hear Cortana speak when they’re communicating with their Bluetooth headset. The reason this happens is that the headset isn’t paired properly so either your voice command didn’t go through well or the sound is getting lost between the headset and the PC. The simple solution is to reconnect your headset to the PC again and see if that sorts out the problem. If not, then carry on with the following fixes.
