diff --git a/main/audio_processing/afe_wake_word.cc b/main/audio_processing/afe_wake_word.cc
index 77955970..cfd77986 100644
--- a/main/audio_processing/afe_wake_word.cc
+++ b/main/audio_processing/afe_wake_word.cc
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ void AfeWakeWord::Initialize(AudioCodec* codec) {
     int ref_num = codec_->input_reference() ? 1 : 0;
 
     srmodel_list_t *models = esp_srmodel_init("model");
+    if (models == nullptr || models->num == -1) {
+        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Failed to initialize wakenet model");
+        return;
+    }
     for (int i = 0; i < models->num; i++) {
         ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Model %d: %s", i, models->model_name[i]);
         if (strstr(models->model_name[i], ESP_WN_PREFIX) != NULL) {
diff --git a/main/audio_processing/esp_wake_word.cc b/main/audio_processing/esp_wake_word.cc
index 17744d6a..c5d4ed32 100644
--- a/main/audio_processing/esp_wake_word.cc
+++ b/main/audio_processing/esp_wake_word.cc
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ void EspWakeWord::Initialize(AudioCodec* codec) {
     codec_ = codec;
 
     wakenet_model_ = esp_srmodel_init("model");
-
+    if (wakenet_model_ == nullptr || wakenet_model_->num == -1) {
+        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Failed to initialize wakenet model");
+        return;
+    }
     if(wakenet_model_->num > 1) {
         ESP_LOGW(TAG, "More than one model found, using the first one");
     } else if (wakenet_model_->num == 0) {