diff --git a/packages/text-to-speech/src/htmlToSsml.ts b/packages/text-to-speech/src/htmlToSsml.ts
index 8f1ff1d2f..5e0741c8c 100644
--- a/packages/text-to-speech/src/htmlToSsml.ts
+++ b/packages/text-to-speech/src/htmlToSsml.ts
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ const ANCHOR_ELEMENTS_BLOCKED_ATTRIBUTES = [
 
 function ssmlTagsForTopLevelElement() {
   return {
-    opening: `<break />`,
+    opening: `<break time="250ms"/>`,
   }
 }
 
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ function emitElement(
       const cleanedText = cleanTextNode(child)
       if (idx && cleanedText.length > 1) {
         // Make sure it's more than just a space
-        emit(textItems, `<bookmark mark="${idx}" />`)
+        emit(textItems, `<bookmark mark="${idx}"/>`)
       }
       emitTextNode(textItems, cleanedText, child)
     }
diff --git a/packages/text-to-speech/test/htmlToSsml.test.ts b/packages/text-to-speech/test/htmlToSsml.test.ts
index 7adcc0fbe..5e3270ced 100644
--- a/packages/text-to-speech/test/htmlToSsml.test.ts
+++ b/packages/text-to-speech/test/htmlToSsml.test.ts
@@ -235,6 +235,6 @@ describe('convert HTML to Speech file', () => {
       title: 'Wang Yi at the UN; Fu Zhenghua sentenced; Nvidia China sales',
       options: TEST_OPTIONS,
     })
-    expect(speechFile.utterances).to.have.lengthOf(11)
+    expect(speechFile.utterances).to.have.lengthOf(12)
   })
 })