Apparatuses and systems for conserving power for a portable electronic device that monitors local audio for a wakeword are described herein. In a non-limiting embodiment, a portable electronic device may have two-phases. The first phase may be a first circuit that stores an audio input while determining whether human speech is present in the audio input. The second phase may be a second circuit that activates when the first circuit determines that human speech is present in the audio input. The second circuit may receive the audio input from the first circuit, store the audio input, and determine whether a wakeword is present within the audio input.