diff --git a/apps/app_speech_utils.c b/apps/app_speech_utils.c
index c90bc8b5020695c7427dbecb7adc37dc822f6f47..1b8348a047d2dc6765e37a23edf3b555c9a957b3 100644
--- a/apps/app_speech_utils.c
+++ b/apps/app_speech_utils.c
@@ -743,6 +743,7 @@ static int speech_background(struct ast_channel *chan, void *data)
 			speech->results->text = ast_strdup(dtmf);
 			speech->results->grammar = ast_strdup("dtmf");
 		}
+		ast_speech_change_state(speech, AST_SPEECH_STATE_NOT_READY);
 	}
 
 	/* See if it was because they hung up */