diff --git a/mycroft/client/speech/local_recognizer.py b/mycroft/client/speech/local_recognizer.py
index 8f85bccdc6..9f723bb0bd 100644
--- a/mycroft/client/speech/local_recognizer.py
+++ b/mycroft/client/speech/local_recognizer.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class LocalRecognizer(object):
         config.set_string('-hmm', join(BASEDIR, 'model', self.lang, 'hmm'))
         config.set_string('-dict', dict_name)
         config.set_string('-keyphrase', self.key_phrase)
-        config.set_float('-kws_threshold', self.threshold)
+        config.set_float('-kws_threshold', float(self.threshold))
         config.set_float('-samprate', self.sample_rate)
         config.set_int('-nfft', 2048)
         config.set_string('-logfn', '/dev/null')