diff --git a/tools/test/topology/tplg-build.sh b/tools/test/topology/tplg-build.sh
index 66ec3cfdc..a5ec7bf76 100755
--- a/tools/test/topology/tplg-build.sh
+++ b/tools/test/topology/tplg-build.sh
@@ -264,6 +264,6 @@ then
 	#execute alsatplg to create topology binary
 	TEST_STRINGS=${TEST_STRINGS%?}
 	echo $TEST_STRINGS | tr '\n' ',' |\
-		xargs -d ',' -P0 -n1 -I string alsatplg -v 1 -c\
+		xargs -d ',' -P0 -n1 -I string alsatplg ${VERBOSE:+-v 1} -c\
 			string".conf" -o string".tplg"
 fi