diff --git a/lib/utils/tts-streaming-buffer.js b/lib/utils/tts-streaming-buffer.js
index f3813ef6..de55342d 100644
--- a/lib/utils/tts-streaming-buffer.js
+++ b/lib/utils/tts-streaming-buffer.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ const {
 const MAX_CHUNK_SIZE = 1800;
 const HIGH_WATER_BUFFER_SIZE = 1000;
 const LOW_WATER_BUFFER_SIZE = 200;
-const TIMEOUT_RETRY_MSECS = 3000;
+const TIMEOUT_RETRY_MSECS = 1000; // 1 second
 
 
 const isWhitespace = (str) => /^\s*$/.test(str);
@@ -377,6 +377,7 @@ class TtsStreamingBuffer extends Emitter {
 
   _onTimeout() {
     this.logger.debug('TtsStreamingBuffer:_onTimeout Timeout waiting for sentence boundary');
+    this.timer = null;
     // Check if new text has been added since the timer was set.
     const now = Date.now();
     if (now - this.lastUpdateTime < TIMEOUT_RETRY_MSECS) {
@@ -384,7 +385,6 @@ class TtsStreamingBuffer extends Emitter {
       this._setTimerIfNeeded();
       return;
     }
-    this.timer = null;
     this._feedQueue(true);
   }