diff --git a/tests/test_text_processing.py b/tests/test_text_processing.py
index 8f8e6fab..0ecb9962 100644
--- a/tests/test_text_processing.py
+++ b/tests/test_text_processing.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def test_phoneme_to_sequence():
 
 def test_text2phone():
     text = "Recent research at Harvard has shown meditating for as little as 8 weeks can actually increase, the grey matter in the parts of the brain responsible for emotional regulation and learning!"
-    gt = "ɹ|iː|s|ə|n|t| |ɹ|ɪ|s|ɜː|tʃ| |æ|t| |h|ɑːɹ|v|ɚ|d| |h|ɐ|z| |ʃ|oʊ|n| |m|ɛ|d|ᵻ|t|eɪ|ɾ|ɪ|ŋ| |f|ɔː|ɹ| |æ|z| |l|ɪ|ɾ|əl| |æ|z| |eɪ|t| |w|iː|k|s| |k|æ|n| |æ|k|tʃ|uː|əl|i|| |ɪ|n|k|ɹ|iː|s|,| |ð|ə| |ɡ|ɹ|eɪ| |m|æ|ɾ|ɚ|ɹ| |ɪ|n|ð|ə| |p|ɑːɹ|t|s| |ʌ|v|ð|ə| |b|ɹ|eɪ|n| |ɹ|ɪ|s|p|ɑː|n|s|ə|b|əl| |f|ɔː|ɹ| |ɪ|m|oʊ|ʃ|ə|n|əl| |ɹ|ɛ|ɡ|j|uː|l|eɪ|ʃ|ə|n||| |æ|n|d| |l|ɜː|n|ɪ|ŋ|!"
+    gt = "ɹ|iː|s|ə|n|t| |ɹ|ɪ|s|ɜː|tʃ| |æ|t| |h|ɑːɹ|v|ɚ|d| |h|ɐ|z| |ʃ|oʊ|n| |m|ɛ|d|ᵻ|t|eɪ|ɾ|ɪ|ŋ| |f|ɔː|ɹ| |æ|z| |l|ɪ|ɾ|əl| |æ|z| |eɪ|t| |w|iː|k|s| |k|æ|n| |æ|k|tʃ|uː|əl|i| |ɪ|n|k|ɹ|iː|s|,| |ð|ə| |ɡ|ɹ|eɪ| |m|æ|ɾ|ɚ|ɹ| |ɪ|n|ð|ə| |p|ɑːɹ|t|s| |ʌ|v|ð|ə| |b|ɹ|eɪ|n| |ɹ|ɪ|s|p|ɑː|n|s|ə|b|əl| |f|ɔː|ɹ| |ɪ|m|oʊ|ʃ|ə|n|əl| |ɹ|ɛ|ɡ|j|uː|l|eɪ|ʃ|ə|n| |æ|n|d| |l|ɜː|n|ɪ|ŋ|!"
     lang = "en-us"
     phonemes = text2phone(text, lang)
-    assert gt == phonemes
+    assert gt == phonemes, f"\n{phonemes} \n vs \n{gt}"
diff --git a/utils/text/__init__.py b/utils/text/__init__.py
index 1c5b98c3..e6842dfa 100644
--- a/utils/text/__init__.py
+++ b/utils/text/__init__.py
@@ -28,21 +28,34 @@ def text2phone(text, language):
     seperator = phonemizer.separator.Separator(' |', '', '|')
     #try:
     punctuations = re.findall(PHONEME_PUNCTUATION_PATTERN, text)
-    ph = phonemize(text, separator=seperator, strip=False, njobs=1, backend='espeak', language=language)
-    ph = ph[:-1].strip() # skip the last empty character
-    # Replace \n with matching punctuations.
-    if punctuations:
-        # if text ends with a punctuation.
-        if text[-1] == punctuations[-1]:
-            for punct in punctuations[:-1]:
-                ph = ph.replace('| |\n', '|'+punct+'| |', 1)
-            try:
-                ph = ph + punctuations[-1]
-            except:
-                print(text)
-        else:
-            for punct in punctuations:
-                ph = ph.replace('| |\n', '|'+punct+'| |', 1)
+    if float(phonemizer.__version__) < 2.1:
+        ph = phonemize(text, separator=seperator, strip=False, njobs=1, backend='espeak', language=language)
+        ph = ph[:-1].strip() # skip the last empty character
+        # phonemizer does not tackle punctuations. Here we do.
+        # Replace \n with matching punctuations.
+        if punctuations:
+            # if text ends with a punctuation.
+            if text[-1] == punctuations[-1]:
+                for punct in punctuations[:-1]:
+                    ph = ph.replace('| |\n', '|'+punct+'| |', 1)
+                try:
+                    ph = ph + punctuations[-1]
+                except:
+                    print(text)
+            else:
+                for punct in punctuations:
+                    ph = ph.replace('| |\n', '|'+punct+'| |', 1)
+    elif float(phonemizer.__version__) == 2.1:
+        ph = phonemize(text, separator=seperator, strip=False, njobs=1, backend='espeak', language=language, preserve_punctuation=True)
+        # this is a simple fix for phonemizer.
+        # https://github.com/bootphon/phonemizer/issues/32
+        if punctuations:
+            for punctuation in punctuations:
+                ph = ph.replace(f"| |{punctuation} ", f"|{punctuation}| |").replace(f"| |{punctuation}", f"|{punctuation}| |")
+            ph = ph[:-3]
+    else:
+        raise RuntimeError(" [!] Use 'phonemizer' version 2.1 or older.")
+
     return ph