diff --git a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Services/AudioSession/AudioSession.swift b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Services/AudioSession/AudioSession.swift
index 6300379cd..bc86572b0 100644
--- a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Services/AudioSession/AudioSession.swift
+++ b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Services/AudioSession/AudioSession.swift
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ public enum PlayerScrubState {
   case scrubEnded(TimeInterval)
 }
 
+enum DownloadPriority: String {
+  case low = "low"
+  case high = "high"
+}
+
 // Our observable object class
 public class AudioSession: NSObject, ObservableObject, AVAudioPlayerDelegate {
   @Published public var state: AudioSessionState = .stopped
@@ -77,7 +82,7 @@ public class AudioSession: NSObject, ObservableObject, AVAudioPlayerDelegate {
       }
 
       // Attempt to fetch the file if not downloaded already
-      let result = try? await downloadAudioFile(pageId: pageId)
+      let result = try? await downloadAudioFile(pageId: pageId, priority: .low)
       if result == nil {
         print("audio file had error downloading: ", pageId)
         pendingList.append(pageId)
@@ -168,7 +173,7 @@ public class AudioSession: NSObject, ObservableObject, AVAudioPlayerDelegate {
     let pageId = item!.unwrappedID
 
     downloadTask = Task {
-      let result = try? await downloadAudioFile(pageId: pageId)
+      let result = try? await downloadAudioFile(pageId: pageId, priority: .high)
       if Task.isCancelled { return }
 
       if result == nil {
@@ -347,14 +352,14 @@ public class AudioSession: NSObject, ObservableObject, AVAudioPlayerDelegate {
     }
   }
 
-  func downloadAudioFile(pageId: String) async throws -> (pending: Bool, url: URL?) {
+  func downloadAudioFile(pageId: String, priority: DownloadPriority) async throws -> (pending: Bool, url: URL?) {
     let audioUrl = pathForAudioFile(pageId: pageId)
 
     if FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: audioUrl.path) {
       return (pending: false, url: audioUrl)
     }
 
-    guard let url = URL(string: "/api/article/\(pageId)/mp3/\(currentVoice)", relativeTo: appEnvironment.serverBaseURL) else {
+    guard let url = URL(string: "/api/article/\(pageId)/mp3/\(priority)/\(currentVoice)", relativeTo: appEnvironment.serverBaseURL) else {
       throw BasicError.message(messageText: "Invalid audio URL")
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/api/src/routers/article_router.ts b/packages/api/src/routers/article_router.ts
index 487b32c77..e0f625aad 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/routers/article_router.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/routers/article_router.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import { Speech, SpeechState } from '../entity/speech'
 import { getPageById, updatePage } from '../elastic/pages'
 import { generateDownloadSignedUrl } from '../utils/uploads'
 import { enqueueTextToSpeech } from '../utils/createTask'
-import { UserPersonalization } from '../entity/user_personalization'
 import { createPubSubClient } from '../datalayer/pubsub'
 
 const logger = buildLogger('app.dispatch')
@@ -78,7 +77,7 @@ export function articleRouter() {
     async (req, res) => {
       const articleId = req.params.id
       const outputFormat = req.params.outputFormat
-      const voice = req.params.voice
+      const voice = req.params.voice || 'en-US-JennyNeural'
       const priority = req.params.priority
       if (
         !articleId ||
@@ -145,17 +144,12 @@ export function articleRouter() {
       if (!page) {
         return res.status(404).send('Page not found')
       }
-      const userPersonalization = await getRepository(
-        UserPersonalization
-      ).findOneBy({
-        user: { id: uid },
-      })
       // initialize state
       const speech = await getRepository(Speech).save({
         user: { id: uid },
         elasticPageId: articleId,
         state: SpeechState.INITIALIZED,
-        voice: voice || userPersonalization?.speechVoice || 'en-US-JennyNeural',
+        voice,
       })
       // enqueue a task to convert text to speech
       const taskName = await enqueueTextToSpeech({