The Feynman technique with voice typing: explain it out loud

The Feynman technique works better out loud, and voice typing turns that spoken explanation into text you can actually inspect. Explain the topic as if to a beginner, dictate it into a note, then read the transcript back: the hesitations, the jargon and the hand-waving show you exactly what you don't understand yet.

On a Mac you can do this with free Apple Dictation. Below is the method, the setup, and the one trick that makes voice typing especially good at it.

#The technique in four steps

1. Pick one concept. Small enough to explain in two minutes: "how compound interest works", not "finance".
2. Explain it to a beginner. Plain words, no jargon you couldn't define, a concrete example.
3. Find the gaps. Where you got vague, used a term as a shortcut, or couldn't say why, go back to the source material.
4. Simplify and repeat. Explain it again, shorter and clearer, until there's nothing you're bluffing.

Typing the explanation works, but it's slow, and the slowness lets you polish over the gaps. Saying it out loud doesn't give you that cover.

#Why voice typing is the right tool

Talking through an idea is the closest thing to teaching it. Without a transcript, though, you only have a feeling that it went well. Dictating gives you both: the spoken explanation and a written record of it.

The trick is to read the first transcript before anything tidies it up. People restart sentences, repeat words and say "I guess", "sort of" and "basically" most when they're unsure. In an uncleaned transcript, those cluster around the weak spots like a highlighter.

#Set it up on a Mac

With Apple Dictation (free)

1. Open System Settings › Keyboard and turn on Dictation. Note the shortcut.
2. Open a blank note (Notes, Obsidian, Notion, anything).
3. Type the concept as a heading, press the shortcut, and explain.
4. Press Esc when you're done.

Apple Dictation adds basic punctuation and stops on its own after about 30 seconds without speech, per Apple's guide (checked November 2026). When you're explaining something hard, you pause a lot, so expect to restart it. If it cuts out more than that, see Mac dictation keeps stopping.

With Sayburst

Sayburst gives you two things that fit this method: you control when it stops, and you choose how much it cleans up.

1. Install Sayburst and grant Microphone and Accessibility; the speech model downloads once and then runs on your Mac.
2. Hold fn while you explain and let go when you're done, or tap it once to go hands-free so you can pause to think mid-explanation, and tap again to finish.
3. For the first pass, choose Raw from the menu bar for this dictation. You get the transcript with no cleanup, so restarts and repeats stay in.
4. For the final explanation, switch back to Clean, which removes fillers and restarts and fixes punctuation.

The overlay shows your words as you speak, and nothing reaches the note until you finish, so you can glance at it without being distracted by text appearing in the document.

#What the transcript shows you

First attempt at compound interest, dictated in Raw:

Okay, so compound interest is when the interest you earn gets added to the, the principal, so next year you earn interest on, on the interest too, which is, I guess, why small differences in the rate matter so much over, like, thirty years.

Read it back and the gaps are obvious. "I guess" is the tell: you know that small rate differences matter, but you can't say how much or why. That's the bit to go back and work through, with an actual example: $10,000 at 5% versus 7% over 30 years, which comes to roughly $43,000 versus $76,000.

Second attempt, after the reading, dictated in Clean:

"Compound interest means the interest you earn is added to your balance, so next year you earn interest on that interest too. Because each year's growth builds on the last, the gap between two rates widens every year. Over thirty years, two percentage points can leave you with about 75 percent more money."

What lands in the note:

Compound interest means the interest you earn is added to your balance, so next year you earn interest on that interest too. Because each year's growth builds on the last, the gap between two rates widens every year. Over 30 years, two percentage points can leave you with about 75% more money.

No hedges left, and it explains why. That second paragraph is your study note.

#Make it a habit

• One concept per note. Title it with the question ("Why do small rate differences matter?") and keep both transcripts, raw then clean. The difference between them is your learning.
• Capture questions as they come. Sayburst's notes shortcut appends a timestamped bullet under today's date in a Markdown file you choose. Mid-lecture, hold it and say "why does the yield curve invert before recessions", and it's in your notes without opening anything. Obsidian works with it.
• Add the course vocabulary. Technical terms and names from your reading list go into Sayburst's vocabulary so the transcript doesn't stumble on them.
• Keep it private. Recognition runs on your Mac and audio is never uploaded, so a half-understood explanation stays between you and your notes.

#Where it goes wrong

You read a definition instead of explaining. If the transcript sounds like the textbook, you've recited, not explained. Close the book and try again with an example from your own life.

The transcript is wrong, not you. Misheard technical terms can look like gaps. Check the term was transcribed correctly before you decide you don't understand it; add it to the vocabulary if not.

Dictation keeps stopping mid-thought. With Apple Dictation that's the silence timeout. Use hands-free mode in Sayburst, or restart Dictation after each pause.

Your shortcut opens the emoji picker. If the 🌐/fn key is set to show emoji, Sayburst warns you and shows where to change it; you can also use right ⌥ or a mouse side button instead.

#When the built-in way is enough

For an occasional explanation, Apple Dictation is free and does the job, especially if your concepts are short. Sayburst is worth it when you study this way every day: you decide when it stops, a Raw mode that keeps the evidence, and clean notes when you want them. It costs $29 once and needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later; on an iPad or phone, use the built-in keyboard dictation instead.

The same out-loud approach works for writing papers too; see dictation for academic writing. If attention is the harder part, our ADHD study tips cover other ways to make study sessions stick.

Questions people ask

What is the Feynman technique?

A way to check your understanding by explaining a topic in plain language, as if teaching someone new to it. Wherever the explanation gets vague or leans on jargon, you've found a gap to go back and study.

Why use voice typing for the Feynman technique?

Talking is closer to teaching than writing is, and it's faster. Voice typing gives you a written transcript of the explanation, so you can read it back and see exactly where you hedged, rambled or skipped a step.

Should I clean up the transcript before reviewing it?

Not on the first pass. Restarts, repeated words and hedges like 'I guess' tend to cluster where you're unsure, which is exactly what you're looking for. Review an uncleaned transcript first and use a cleaned one for your final explanation.

Can I do this with free Mac dictation?

Yes. Apple Dictation works for short explanations. It stops after about 30 seconds of silence, so if you pause to think a lot, a hold-to-talk or hands-free dictation app is less frustrating.