diff --git a/src/pipecat/services/azure.py b/src/pipecat/services/azure.py
index 40c666db6..df0603537 100644
--- a/src/pipecat/services/azure.py
+++ b/src/pipecat/services/azure.py
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ async def run_tts(self, text: str) -> AsyncGenerator[Frame, None]:
             f"<voice name='{self._voice}'>"
             "<mstts:silence type='Sentenceboundary' value='20ms' />"
             "<mstts:express-as style='lyrical' styledegree='2' role='SeniorFemale'>"
-            "<prosody rate='1.05'>"
+            f"<prosody rate='{self._speed}'>"
             f"{text}"
             "</prosody></mstts:express-as></voice></speak> "
         )