Abstract: A background audio recovery system displays an inactive status indicator for a speech recognition program module in an application program. To prevent losses of dictated speech when a speech recognition program module is inadvertently assigned to an inactive mode, the background audio recovery system determines whether an audio input device is receiving audio. If audio is being received by the audio input device, the background audio recovery system stores the audio data for later retrieval by the user. When a user issues a command to activate the speech recognition program module, the background audio recovery system initiates a background audio program module for manipulating the stored audio data that was recorded while the speech recognition program module was assigned to an inactive mode.