An electromagnetic lock monitoring system for monitoring the strength of a magnetic field in an electromechanical lock which is created when a steel armature plate is closed against an electromagnet. In an example embodiment, the system includes a microphone and a speech recognition circuit coupled to the microphone and adapted to recognize an audio signal from the microphone. The invention also includes a system for practicing the method. The drive screw is configured to displace the firing member over a firing length as a result of the fixed number of revolutions.