diff --git a/README-DEVELOPMENT.md b/README-DEVELOPMENT.md
index 8df9733..660c1a7 100644
--- a/README-DEVELOPMENT.md
+++ b/README-DEVELOPMENT.md
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ git status
 
 - **Runtime**: python3, pygobject-3.0, pluggy, AT-SPI2
 - **Build**: meson, ninja, gettext
-- **Optional**: dasbus (for D-Bus service), BrlTTY, speech-dispatcher
+- **Optional**: dasbus (for D-Bus service), BrlTTY, speech-dispatcher, piper-tts
 
 Install build dependencies on Arch Linux:
 ```bash
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 70ee6ee..7965f9e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@ toolkit, OpenOffice/LibreOffice, Gecko, WebKitGtk, and KDE Qt toolkit.
 
 * **python-speechd**     - Python bindings for Speech Dispatcher (recommended)
 * **gstreamer-1.0**      - GStreamer streaming media framework (for sounds)
+* **piper-tts**          - Piper neural text-to-speech engine (optional)
+
+Piper voice models are typically stored under `~/.local/share/piper/voices` or
+`/usr/share/piper-voices`.
 
 ### Braille Support (Optional)
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 01e59ee..210fdf3 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "pygobject>=3.18",
     "brlapi; extra == 'braille'",
     "python-speechd; extra == 'speech'",
+    "piper-tts; extra == 'piper'",
     "louis; extra == 'braille'"
 ]
 
diff --git a/src/cthulhu/piper_audio_player.py b/src/cthulhu/piper_audio_player.py
index 7f29e5f..c0744e4 100644
--- a/src/cthulhu/piper_audio_player.py
+++ b/src/cthulhu/piper_audio_player.py
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@ class PiperAudioPlayer:
         if not _gstreamerAvailable:
             return False
 
+        self._resetPipeline()
+
         try:
             self._pipeline = Gst.Pipeline.new("piper-audio")
 
@@ -148,6 +150,15 @@ class PiperAudioPlayer:
             debug.printMessage(debug.LEVEL_WARNING, msg, True)
             return False
 
+    def _resetPipeline(self):
+        """Reset the GStreamer pipeline and related elements."""
+        if self._pipeline is not None:
+            self._pipeline.set_state(Gst.State.NULL)
+            self._pipeline = None
+        self._appsrc = None
+        self._volume = None
+        self._initialized = False
+
     def _onMessage(self, bus, message):
         """Handle GStreamer bus messages."""
         if message.type == Gst.MessageType.EOS:
@@ -173,8 +184,8 @@ class PiperAudioPlayer:
         """
         if sampleRate != self._sampleRate:
             self._sampleRate = sampleRate
-            self._initialized = False
             self.stop()
+            self._resetPipeline()
             self._init()
 
     def setVolume(self, volumeLevel):
@@ -239,7 +250,6 @@ class PiperAudioPlayer:
 
         with self._lock:
             self._playing = True
-            stopRequested = False
 
         self._completionCallback = completionCallback
 
@@ -289,9 +299,4 @@ class PiperAudioPlayer:
     def shutdown(self):
         """Shut down the audio player and release resources."""
         self.stop()
-        self._initialized = False
-        if self._pipeline is not None:
-            self._pipeline.set_state(Gst.State.NULL)
-            self._pipeline = None
-        self._appsrc = None
-        self._volume = None
+        self._resetPipeline()
diff --git a/src/cthulhu/piper_voice_manager.py b/src/cthulhu/piper_voice_manager.py
index bf288d7..c68e01a 100644
--- a/src/cthulhu/piper_voice_manager.py
+++ b/src/cthulhu/piper_voice_manager.py
@@ -79,15 +79,19 @@ class PiperVoiceManager:
 
     VOICE_SEARCH_PATHS = [
         "~/.local/share/piper/voices",
+        "~/.local/share/piper-voices",
         "~/.local/share/piper-tts/voices",
         "~/.config/piper/voices",
+        "~/.config/piper-tts/voices",
         "$XDG_DATA_HOME/piper/voices",
+        "$XDG_DATA_HOME/piper-voices",
         "$XDG_DATA_HOME/piper-tts/voices",
         "$XDG_DATA_HOME/cthulhu/piper-voices",
         "/usr/share/piper/voices",
         "/usr/share/piper-voices",
         "/usr/share/piper-tts/voices",
         "/usr/local/share/piper/voices",
+        "/usr/local/share/piper-voices",
         "/usr/local/share/piper-tts/voices",
     ]