diff --git a/lib/tasks/stt-task.js b/lib/tasks/stt-task.js
index be96f44e..11394bd6 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/stt-task.js
+++ b/lib/tasks/stt-task.js
@@ -265,6 +265,20 @@ class SttTask extends Task {
   _doContinuousAsrWithDeepgram(asrTimeout) {
     /* deepgram has an utterance_end_ms property that simplifies things */
     assert(this.vendor === 'deepgram');
+    if (asrTimeout < 1000) {
+      this.notifyError({
+        msg: 'ASR error',
+        details:`asrTimeout ${asrTimeout} is too short for deepgram; setting it to 1000ms`
+      });
+      asrTimeout = 1000;
+    }
+    else if (asrTimeout > 5000) {
+      this.notifyError({
+        msg: 'ASR error',
+        details:`asrTimeout ${asrTimeout} is too long for deepgram; setting it to 5000ms`
+      });
+      asrTimeout = 5000;
+    }
     this.logger.debug(`_doContinuousAsrWithDeepgram - setting utterance_end_ms to ${asrTimeout}`);
     const dgOptions = this.data.recognizer.deepgramOptions = this.data.recognizer.deepgramOptions || {};
     dgOptions.utteranceEndMs = dgOptions.utteranceEndMs || asrTimeout;