diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index c2542a9..fc478ea 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "tts"
-version = "0.18.3"
+version = "0.19.0"
 authors = ["Nolan Darilek <nolan@thewordnerd.info>"]
 repository = "https://github.com/ndarilek/tts-rs"
 description = "High-level Text-To-Speech (TTS) interface"
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ tolk = { version = "0.5", optional = true }
 windows = { version = "0.27", features = ["alloc", "std", "Foundation", "Media_Core", "Media_Playback", "Media_SpeechSynthesis", "Storage_Streams"] }
 
 [target.'cfg(target_os = "linux")'.dependencies]
-speech-dispatcher = "0.7"
+speech-dispatcher = "0.8"
 
 [target.'cfg(any(target_os = "macos", target_os = "ios"))'.dependencies]
 cocoa-foundation = "0.1"
diff --git a/src/backends/speech_dispatcher.rs b/src/backends/speech_dispatcher.rs
index 39c7fd8..bd373c4 100644
--- a/src/backends/speech_dispatcher.rs
+++ b/src/backends/speech_dispatcher.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
-use std::collections::HashMap;
-use std::sync::Mutex;
+use std::{collections::HashMap, sync::Mutex};
 
 use lazy_static::*;
 use log::{info, trace};
@@ -19,9 +18,9 @@ lazy_static! {
 }
 
 impl SpeechDispatcher {
-    pub(crate) fn new() -> Self {
+    pub(crate) fn new() -> std::result::Result<Self, Error> {
         info!("Initializing SpeechDispatcher backend");
-        let connection = speech_dispatcher::Connection::open("tts", "tts", "tts", Mode::Threaded);
+        let connection = speech_dispatcher::Connection::open("tts", "tts", "tts", Mode::Threaded)?;
         let sd = SpeechDispatcher(connection);
         let mut speaking = SPEAKING.lock().unwrap();
         speaking.insert(sd.0.client_id(), false);
@@ -66,7 +65,7 @@ impl SpeechDispatcher {
             let mut speaking = SPEAKING.lock().unwrap();
             speaking.insert(client_id, true);
         })));
-        sd
+        Ok(sd)
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 4247435..9488daa 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ use lazy_static::lazy_static;
 use libc::c_char;
 #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
 use objc::{class, msg_send, sel, sel_impl};
+use speech_dispatcher::SpeechDispatcherError;
 use thiserror::Error;
 #[cfg(all(windows, feature = "tolk"))]
 use tolk::Tolk;
@@ -113,8 +114,11 @@ pub enum Error {
     #[error("Operation failed")]
     OperationFailed,
     #[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
-    #[error("JavaScript error: [0])]")]
+    #[error("JavaScript error: [0]")]
     JavaScriptError(wasm_bindgen::JsValue),
+    #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+    #[error("Speech Dispatcher error: {0}")]
+    SpeechDispatcher(#[from] SpeechDispatcherError),
     #[cfg(windows)]
     #[error("WinRT error")]
     WinRt(windows::core::Error),
@@ -183,7 +187,10 @@ impl Tts {
     pub fn new(backend: Backends) -> Result<Tts, Error> {
         let backend = match backend {
             #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
-            Backends::SpeechDispatcher => Ok(Tts(Box::new(backends::SpeechDispatcher::new()))),
+            Backends::SpeechDispatcher => {
+                let tts = backends::SpeechDispatcher::new()?;
+                Ok(Tts(Box::new(tts)))
+            }
             #[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
             Backends::Web => {
                 let tts = backends::Web::new()?;