diff --git a/src/audio/pipeline.c b/src/audio/pipeline.c
index 9af32afd7..677943d25 100644
--- a/src/audio/pipeline.c
+++ b/src/audio/pipeline.c
@@ -974,5 +974,5 @@ static uint64_t pipeline_task(void *arg)
 	}
 
 	tracev_pipe("pipeline_task() sched");
-	return p->ipc_pipe.period;
+	return pipeline_is_timer_driven(p) ? p->ipc_pipe.period : 0;
 }