diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 8bf992a5..fed0dd05 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -65,3 +65,7 @@
 [submodule "vosk-api"]
 	path = vosk-api
 	url = https://github.com/alphacep/vosk-api
+[submodule "piper"]
+	path = piper
+	url = https://github.com/shaunren/piper.git
+	branch = library
diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 397ff2f1..08a4d584 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -461,6 +461,19 @@ $(eval $(call rules-source,vosk,$(SRCDIR)/vosk-api))
 $(eval $(call rules-cmake,vosk,32))
 $(eval $(call rules-cmake,vosk,64))
 
+##
+## piper
+##
+
+$(eval $(call rules-source,piper,$(SRCDIR)/piper))
+$(eval $(call rules-cmake,piper,64))
+
+$(OBJ)/.piper-post-build64:
+	mkdir -p $(PIPER_DST64)/lib64
+	mkdir -p $(DST_DIR)/share
+	mv $(PIPER_DST64)/*.so* $(PIPER_DST64)/lib64/
+	cp -a $(PIPER_DST64)/{espeak-ng-data,libtashkeel_model.ort} $(DST_DIR)/share/
+	touch $@
 
 ##
 ## wine
@@ -500,6 +513,7 @@ WINE_CONFIGURE_ARGS64 = --enable-win64 \
   VKD3D_PE_LIBS="-L$(VKD3D_DST64)/bin -l:libvkd3d-1.dll -l:libvkd3d-shader-1.dll"
 
 WINE_DEPENDS = gst_orc gstreamer gst_base vkd3d openfst kaldi vosk
+WINE_DEPENDS64 = piper
 
 $(eval $(call rules-source,wine,$(SRCDIR)/wine))
 $(eval $(call rules-autoconf,wine,32))
diff --git a/piper b/piper
new file mode 160000
index 00000000..9d06b749
--- /dev/null
+++ b/piper
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 9d06b74959570772e8bcbe7a3f696664d2421167
diff --git a/proton b/proton
index 7d9be8e9..67768c56 100755
--- a/proton
+++ b/proton
@@ -1390,6 +1390,8 @@ class Session:
         self.env["MEDIACONV_BLANK_VIDEO_FILE"] = g_proton.media_dir + "blank.mkv"
         self.env["MEDIACONV_BLANK_AUDIO_FILE"] = g_proton.media_dir + "blank.ptna"
 
+        self.env["ESPEAK_DATA_PATH"] = g_proton.dist_dir + "share"
+
         prepend_to_env_str(self.env, "PATH", g_proton.bin_dir, ":")
 
     def check_environment(self, env_name, config_name):