diff --git a/src/pulsecore/memblockq.c b/src/pulsecore/memblockq.c
index a9f28a075..9ce3372cc 100644
--- a/src/pulsecore/memblockq.c
+++ b/src/pulsecore/memblockq.c
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ pa_memblockq* pa_memblockq_new(
 void pa_memblockq_free(pa_memblockq* bq) {
     pa_assert(bq);
 
-    pa_memblockq_flush(bq);
+    pa_memblockq_silence(bq);
 
     if (bq->silence.memblock)
         pa_memblock_unref(bq->silence.memblock);