diff --git a/vocode/streaming/synthesizer/base_synthesizer.py b/vocode/streaming/synthesizer/base_synthesizer.py
index a7d28bc7f..435f0b3f3 100644
--- a/vocode/streaming/synthesizer/base_synthesizer.py
+++ b/vocode/streaming/synthesizer/base_synthesizer.py
@@ -158,6 +158,9 @@ def get_message_cutoff_from_total_response_length(
         estimated_output_seconds = (
             size_of_output / self.synthesizer_config.sampling_rate
         )
+        if not message.text:
+            return message.text
+
         estimated_output_seconds_per_char = estimated_output_seconds / len(message.text)
         return message.text[: int(seconds / estimated_output_seconds_per_char)]