diff --git a/openrtx/include/protocols/M17/M17FrameDecoder.hpp b/openrtx/include/protocols/M17/M17FrameDecoder.hpp
index 0b3f7322..33f3a4d2 100644
--- a/openrtx/include/protocols/M17/M17FrameDecoder.hpp
+++ b/openrtx/include/protocols/M17/M17FrameDecoder.hpp
@@ -140,6 +140,9 @@ private:
 
     ///< Maximum allowed hamming distance when determining the frame type.
     static constexpr uint8_t MAX_SYNC_HAMM_DISTANCE = 4;
+
+    ///< Maximum number of corrected bit errors allowed in a stream frame.
+    static constexpr uint16_t MAX_VITERBI_ERRORS = 15;
 };
 
 } // namespace M17
diff --git a/openrtx/src/protocols/M17/M17FrameDecoder.cpp b/openrtx/src/protocols/M17/M17FrameDecoder.cpp
index 46b14a3e..ef024bed 100644
--- a/openrtx/src/protocols/M17/M17FrameDecoder.cpp
+++ b/openrtx/src/protocols/M17/M17FrameDecoder.cpp
@@ -155,8 +155,10 @@ void M17FrameDecoder::decodeStream(const std::array<uint8_t, 46> &data)
     begin += lich.size();
     std::copy(begin, data.end(), punctured.begin());
 
-    viterbi.decodePunctured(punctured, tmp, DATA_PUNCTURE);
-    memcpy(&streamFrame.data, tmp.data(), tmp.size());
+    // Skip payload copy if BER is too high to avoid audio artifacts
+    uint16_t bitErrs = viterbi.decodePunctured(punctured, tmp, DATA_PUNCTURE);
+    if (bitErrs < MAX_VITERBI_ERRORS)
+        memcpy(&streamFrame.data, tmp.data(), tmp.size());
 }
 
 bool M17FrameDecoder::decodeLich(std::array<uint8_t, 6> &segment,