diff --git a/lib/config.js b/lib/config.js
index 5a6ab44a..81e54c5c 100644
--- a/lib/config.js
+++ b/lib/config.js
@@ -130,6 +130,8 @@ const JAMBONZ_RECORD_WS_PASSWORD = process.env.JAMBONZ_RECORD_WS_PASSWORD || pro
 const JAMBONZ_DISABLE_DIAL_PAI_HEADER = process.env.JAMBONZ_DISABLE_DIAL_PAI_HEADER || false;
 const JAMBONES_DISABLE_DIRECT_P2P_CALL = process.env.JAMBONES_DISABLE_DIRECT_P2P_CALL || false;
 
+const JAMBONES_EAGERLY_PRE_CACHE_AUDIO = process.env.JAMBONES_EAGERLY_PRE_CACHE_AUDIO;
+
 module.exports = {
   JAMBONES_MYSQL_HOST,
   JAMBONES_MYSQL_USER,
@@ -152,6 +154,7 @@ module.exports = {
   JAMBONES_API_BASE_URL,
   JAMBONES_TIME_SERIES_HOST,
   JAMBONES_INJECT_CONTENT,
+  JAMBONES_EAGERLY_PRE_CACHE_AUDIO,
   JAMBONES_ESL_LISTEN_ADDRESS,
   JAMBONES_SBCS,
   JAMBONES_OTEL_ENABLED,
diff --git a/lib/session/call-session.js b/lib/session/call-session.js
index 70d12838..e32dd4d0 100644
--- a/lib/session/call-session.js
+++ b/lib/session/call-session.js
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ const HttpRequestor = require('../utils/http-requestor');
 const WsRequestor = require('../utils/ws-requestor');
 const {
   JAMBONES_INJECT_CONTENT,
+  JAMBONES_EAGERLY_PRE_CACHE_AUDIO,
   AWS_REGION,
 } = require('../config');
 const BackgroundTaskManager = require('../utils/background-task-manager');
@@ -1330,6 +1331,35 @@ Duration=${duration} `
     this.taskIdx = 0;
   }
 
+  _preCacheAudio(newTasks) {
+    for (const task of newTasks) {
+      if (task.name === TaskName.Config && task.hasSynthesizer) {
+        /* if they change synthesizer settings don't try to precache */
+        break;
+      }
+      if (task.name === TaskName.Say) {
+        /* identify vendor language, voice, and label */
+        const vendor = task.synthesizer.vendor && task.synthesizer.vendor !== 'default' ?
+          task.synthesizer.vendor :
+          this.speechSynthesisVendor;
+        const language = task.synthesizer.language && task.synthesizer.language !== 'default' ?
+          task.synthesizer.language :
+          this.speechSynthesisLanguage ;
+        const voice =  task.synthesizer.voice && task.synthesizer.voice !== 'default' ?
+          task.synthesizer.voice :
+          this.speechSynthesisVoice;
+        const label = task.synthesizer.label && task.synthesizer.label !== 'default' ?
+          task.synthesizer.label :
+          this.speechSynthesisLabel;
+
+        this.logger.info({vendor, language, voice, label},
+          'CallSession:_preCacheAudio - precaching audio for future prompt');
+        task._synthesizeWithSpecificVendor(this, this.ep, {vendor, language, voice, label, preCache: true})
+          .catch((err) => this.logger.error(err, 'CallSession:_preCacheAudio - error precaching audio'));
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Append tasks to the current execution stack UNLESS there is a gather in the stack.
    * in that case, insert the tasks before the gather AND if the tasks include
@@ -1387,10 +1417,12 @@ Duration=${duration} `
             this.replaceApplication(t);
           }
           else if (JAMBONES_INJECT_CONTENT) {
+            if (JAMBONES_EAGERLY_PRE_CACHE_AUDIO) this._preCacheAudio(t);
             this._injectTasks(t);
             this.logger.info({tasks: listTaskNames(this.tasks)}, 'CallSession:_onCommand - updated task list');
           }
           else {
+            if (JAMBONES_EAGERLY_PRE_CACHE_AUDIO) this._preCacheAudio(t);
             this.tasks.push(...t);
             this.logger.info({tasks: listTaskNames(this.tasks)}, 'CallSession:_onCommand - updated task list');
           }
diff --git a/lib/tasks/say.js b/lib/tasks/say.js
index 8523b114..091cf13b 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/say.js
+++ b/lib/tasks/say.js
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class TaskSay extends Task {
     }
   }
 
-  async _synthesizeWithSpecificVendor(cs, ep, {vendor, language, voice, label}) {
+  async _synthesizeWithSpecificVendor(cs, ep, {vendor, language, voice, label, preCache = false}) {
     const {srf} = cs;
     const {updateSpeechCredentialLastUsed} = require('../utils/db-utils')(this.logger, srf);
     const {writeAlerts, AlertType, stats} = srf.locals;
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ class TaskSay extends Task {
       voice = this.options.voice_id || voice;
     }
 
-    this.logger.info({vendor, language, voice, model}, 'TaskSay:exec');
+    if (!preCache) this.logger.info({vendor, language, voice, model}, 'TaskSay:exec');
     try {
       if (!credentials) {
         writeAlerts({
@@ -120,11 +120,15 @@ class TaskSay extends Task {
         if (text.startsWith('silence_stream://')) return text;
 
         /* otel: trace time for tts */
-        const {span} = this.startChildSpan('tts-generation', {
-          'tts.vendor': vendor,
-          'tts.language': language,
-          'tts.voice': voice
-        });
+        let otelSpan;
+        if (!preCache)  {
+          const {span} = this.startChildSpan('tts-generation', {
+            'tts.vendor': vendor,
+            'tts.language': language,
+            'tts.voice': voice
+          });
+          otelSpan = span;
+        }
         try {
           const {filePath, servedFromCache, rtt} = await synthAudio(stats, {
             account_sid: cs.accountSid,
@@ -146,9 +150,9 @@ class TaskSay extends Task {
             updateSpeechCredentialLastUsed(credentials.speech_credential_sid)
               .catch(() => {/*already logged error */});
           }
-          span.setAttributes({'tts.cached': servedFromCache});
-          span.end();
-          if (!servedFromCache && rtt) {
+          if (otelSpan) otelSpan.setAttributes({'tts.cached': servedFromCache});
+          if (otelSpan) otelSpan.end();
+          if (!servedFromCache && rtt && !preCache) {
             this.notifyStatus({
               event: 'synthesized-audio',
               vendor,
@@ -160,7 +164,7 @@ class TaskSay extends Task {
           return filePath;
         } catch (err) {
           this.logger.info({err}, 'Error synthesizing tts');
-          span.end();
+          if (otelSpan) otelSpan.end();
           writeAlerts({
             account_sid: cs.accountSid,
             alert_type: AlertType.TTS_FAILURE,