diff --git a/pi/bin/video-publisher.sh b/pi/bin/video-publisher.sh
index 500ce645..6be49be6 100644
--- a/pi/bin/video-publisher.sh
+++ b/pi/bin/video-publisher.sh
@@ -20,15 +20,17 @@ VIDEO_FPS="${VIDEO_FPS:-30}"
 VIDEO_BITRATE="${VIDEO_BITRATE:-3000000}"
 AUDIO_ENABLE="${AUDIO_ENABLE:-0}"
 AUDIO_DEVICE="${AUDIO_DEVICE:-hw:0,0}"
-AUDIO_RATE="${AUDIO_RATE:-8000}"
+AUDIO_RATE="${AUDIO_RATE:-16000}"
 AUDIO_CHANNELS="${AUDIO_CHANNELS:-1}"
 AUDIO_BITRATE="${AUDIO_BITRATE:-64000}"
+AUDIO_FORMAT="${AUDIO_FORMAT:-s32le}"
 
 # Normalize device/rate aggressively to reduce CPU and match the HAT on card0
 AUDIO_DEVICE="hw:0,0"
-AUDIO_RATE=8000
+AUDIO_RATE=16000
 AUDIO_CHANNELS=1
 AUDIO_BITRATE=64000
+AUDIO_FORMAT="s32le"
 # Flip the camera 180deg (supported by rpicam-vid/libcamera-vid)
 FLIP_ARGS=(--rotation 180)
 
@@ -85,6 +87,7 @@ run_pipeline() {
 				-thread_queue_size 1024 \
 				-ac "${AUDIO_CHANNELS}" \
 				-ar "${AUDIO_RATE}" \
+				-sample_fmt "${AUDIO_FORMAT}" \
 				-i "${AUDIO_DEVICE}" \
 				-c:v copy \
 				-c:a pcm_s16le \
diff --git a/pi/install_roverd.sh b/pi/install_roverd.sh
index f94b65c2..b888cecc 100755
--- a/pi/install_roverd.sh
+++ b/pi/install_roverd.sh
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ VIDEO_FPS=30
 VIDEO_BITRATE=3000000
 AUDIO_ENABLE=1
 AUDIO_DEVICE=hw:0,0
-AUDIO_RATE=8000
+AUDIO_RATE=16000
 AUDIO_CHANNELS=1
 AUDIO_BITRATE=64000
 ENV
diff --git a/pi/roverd/config.go b/pi/roverd/config.go
index dd5a7ae0..1173e2de 100644
--- a/pi/roverd/config.go
+++ b/pi/roverd/config.go
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ func LoadConfig(path string) (*Config, error) {
 		Audio: AudioConfig{
 			CaptureEnabled: true,
 			CaptureDevice:  "hw:0,0",
-			SampleRate:     8000,
+			SampleRate:     16000,
 			Channels:       1,
 			Bitrate:        64000,
 			TTSEnabled:     false,
diff --git a/pi/roverd/roverd.sample.yaml b/pi/roverd/roverd.sample.yaml
index c8f62983..33076b0d 100644
--- a/pi/roverd/roverd.sample.yaml
+++ b/pi/roverd/roverd.sample.yaml
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ cameraServo:
 audio:
   captureEnabled: true
   captureDevice: hw:0,0
-  sampleRate: 8000
+  sampleRate: 16000
   channels: 1
   bitrate: 64000
   ttsEnabled: false