diff --git a/drivers/accessibility/speakup/spk_ttyio.c b/drivers/accessibility/speakup/spk_ttyio.c
index a831ff64f8ba..ecc39983e946 100644
--- a/drivers/accessibility/speakup/spk_ttyio.c
+++ b/drivers/accessibility/speakup/spk_ttyio.c
@@ -298,11 +298,13 @@ static unsigned char ttyio_in(int timeout)
 	struct spk_ldisc_data *ldisc_data = speakup_tty->disc_data;
 	char rv;
 
-	if (wait_for_completion_timeout(&ldisc_data->completion,
+	if (!timeout) {
+		if (!try_wait_for_completion(&ldisc_data->completion))
+			return 0xff;
+	} else if (wait_for_completion_timeout(&ldisc_data->completion,
 					usecs_to_jiffies(timeout)) == 0) {
-		if (timeout)
-			pr_warn("spk_ttyio: timeout (%d)  while waiting for input\n",
-				timeout);
+		pr_warn("spk_ttyio: timeout (%d)  while waiting for input\n",
+			timeout);
 		return 0xff;
 	}