diff --git a/src/mainwindow.cc b/src/mainwindow.cc
index 5d205fb..ee288e8 100644
--- a/src/mainwindow.cc
+++ b/src/mainwindow.cc
@@ -493,6 +493,14 @@ static void read_callback(pa_stream *s, size_t length, void *userdata) {
         return;
     }
 
+    if (!data) {
+        /* NULL data means either a hole or empty buffer.
+         * Only drop the stream when there is a hole (length > 0) */
+        if (length)
+            pa_stream_drop(s);
+        return;
+    }
+
     assert(length > 0);
     assert(length % sizeof(float) == 0);