diff --git a/src/GAudioOutput.cc b/src/GAudioOutput.cc
index ca2a4aa952a3ca6b1c29084af442b7ca5aeb1def..e0134a5c800ac85a5879dd9f42fbce85aa1e9be6 100644
--- a/src/GAudioOutput.cc
+++ b/src/GAudioOutput.cc
@@ -64,8 +64,6 @@ GAudioOutput::GAudioOutput(QObject *parent) : QObject(parent),
     worker(new QGCAudioWorker())
 {
     worker->moveToThread(thread);
-    // Initialize within right thread context
-    worker->init();
     connect(this, SIGNAL(textToSpeak(QString,int)), worker, SLOT(say(QString,int)));
     connect(this, SIGNAL(beepOnce()), worker, SLOT(beep()));
     thread->start();
diff --git a/src/audio/QGCAudioWorker.cpp b/src/audio/QGCAudioWorker.cpp
index 5c4c4579848c283da2e33f60b8ee55d077f3509f..0d2ee3e6b0304023232eaf3039a36efb9b6dfe95 100644
--- a/src/audio/QGCAudioWorker.cpp
+++ b/src/audio/QGCAudioWorker.cpp
@@ -95,6 +95,12 @@ QGCAudioWorker::~QGCAudioWorker()
 
 void QGCAudioWorker::say(QString text, int severity)
 {
+	static bool threadInit = false;
+	if (!threadInit) {
+		threadInit = true;
+		init();
+	}
+
     if (!muted)
     {
         // Prepend high priority text with alert beep
@@ -110,8 +116,10 @@ void QGCAudioWorker::say(QString text, int severity)
 #endif
 
 #if defined _MSC_VER && defined QGC_SPEECH_ENABLED
-        pVoice->Speak(text.toStdWString().c_str(), SPF_DEFAULT, NULL);
-
+        HRESULT hr = pVoice->Speak(text.toStdWString().c_str(), SPF_DEFAULT, NULL);
+		if (FAILED(hr)) {
+			qDebug() << "Speak failed, HR:" << QString("%1").arg(hr, 0, 16);
+		}
 #elif defined Q_OS_LINUX && defined QGC_SPEECH_ENABLED
         // Set size of string for espeak: +1 for the null-character
         unsigned int espeak_size = strlen(text.toStdString().c_str()) + 1;