diff --git a/src/libraries/System.Speech/src/Recognition/RecognizerBase.cs b/src/libraries/System.Speech/src/Recognition/RecognizerBase.cs
index 1d8f932513adfe..a8773c79d46841 100644
--- a/src/libraries/System.Speech/src/Recognition/RecognizerBase.cs
+++ b/src/libraries/System.Speech/src/Recognition/RecognizerBase.cs
@@ -2101,7 +2101,7 @@ private void DispatchEvents(object eventData)
             lock (_thisObjectLock)
             {
                 SpeechEvent speechEvent = eventData as SpeechEvent;
-                if (!_disposed && eventData != null)
+                if (!_disposed && speechEvent != null)
                 {
                     switch (speechEvent.EventId)
                     {