diff --git a/src/cthulhu/speechdispatcherfactory.py b/src/cthulhu/speechdispatcherfactory.py
index 4b233e6..6802cf1 100644
--- a/src/cthulhu/speechdispatcherfactory.py
+++ b/src/cthulhu/speechdispatcherfactory.py
@@ -614,15 +614,6 @@ class SpeechServer(speechserver.SpeechServer):
         if not text:
             return
 
-        # In order to re-enable this, a potentially non-trivial amount of work
-        # will be needed to ensure multiple utterances sent to speech.speak
-        # do not result in the intial utterances getting cut off before they
-        # can be heard by the user. Anyone needing to interrupt speech can
-        # do so via speech.stop -- or better yet, by using the default script
-        # method's presentationInterrupt.
-        #if interrupt:
-        #    self._cancel()
-
         # "We will not interrupt a key echo in progress." (Said the comment in
         # speech.py where these next two lines used to live. But the code here
         # suggests we haven't been doing anything with the lastKeyEchoTime in
@@ -630,6 +621,9 @@ class SpeechServer(speechserver.SpeechServer):
         if self._lastKeyEchoTime:
             interrupt = interrupt and (time.time() - self._lastKeyEchoTime) > 0.5
 
+        if interrupt:
+            self._cancel()
+
         if len(text) == 1:
             tokens = ["SPEECH DISPATCHER: Speaking '", text.replace("\n", "\\n"), "' as char"]
             debug.printTokens(debug.LEVEL_INFO, tokens, True)
diff --git a/tests/test_speechdispatcher_interrupt_regressions.py b/tests/test_speechdispatcher_interrupt_regressions.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..674b966
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_speechdispatcher_interrupt_regressions.py
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+import sys
+import time
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest import mock
+
+sys.path.insert(0, str(Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / "src"))
+
+from cthulhu import speechdispatcherfactory
+
+
+class SpeechDispatcherInterruptRegressionTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def _make_server(self):
+        server = speechdispatcherfactory.SpeechServer.__new__(speechdispatcherfactory.SpeechServer)
+        server._lastKeyEchoTime = None
+        server._cancel = mock.Mock()
+        server._apply_acss = mock.Mock()
+        server._send_command = mock.Mock()
+        server._speak = mock.Mock()
+        server._client = mock.Mock()
+        server._client.char = mock.Mock()
+        return server
+
+    def test_interrupting_string_speech_cancels_active_output_first(self):
+        server = self._make_server()
+
+        server.speak("long utterance", interrupt=True)
+
+        server._cancel.assert_called_once_with()
+        server._speak.assert_called_once_with("long utterance", None)
+
+    def test_recent_key_echo_suppresses_backend_cancel(self):
+        server = self._make_server()
+        server._lastKeyEchoTime = time.time()
+
+        server.speak("next", interrupt=True)
+
+        server._cancel.assert_not_called()
+        server._speak.assert_called_once_with("next", None)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()