diff --git a/dockerfiles/hermes-jetson-tts-server.py b/dockerfiles/hermes-jetson-tts-server.py
index c5ed37799..3abdc28b0 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/hermes-jetson-tts-server.py
+++ b/dockerfiles/hermes-jetson-tts-server.py
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ import wave
 from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, ThreadingHTTPServer
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from piper import PiperVoice, SynthesisConfig
+import onnxruntime
+from piper import PiperConfig, PiperVoice, SynthesisConfig
 
 
 HOST = os.getenv("HERMES_TTS_HOST", "0.0.0.0")
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ PORT = int(os.getenv("HERMES_TTS_PORT", "9001"))
 VOICE_NAME = os.getenv("HERMES_TTS_VOICE", "en_US-lessac-high")
 CACHE_DIR = Path(os.getenv("HERMES_TTS_CACHE", "/cache/piper"))
 MAX_TEXT_CHARS = 5000
+ONNX_THREADS = max(1, int(os.getenv("HERMES_TTS_ONNX_THREADS", "4")))
 VOICE_LOCK = threading.Lock()
 
 
@@ -96,8 +98,21 @@ def main() -> None:
     config_path = CACHE_DIR / f"{VOICE_NAME}.onnx.json"
     if not model_path.exists() or not config_path.exists():
         raise RuntimeError(f"baked Piper voice is missing: {VOICE_NAME}")
-    print(f"[tts] loading Piper voice {VOICE_NAME} on CPU", flush=True)
-    voice = PiperVoice.load(model_path, config_path, use_cuda=False, download_dir=CACHE_DIR)
+    with config_path.open("r", encoding="utf-8") as config_file:
+        config = PiperConfig.from_dict(json.load(config_file))
+    session_options = onnxruntime.SessionOptions()
+    session_options.intra_op_num_threads = ONNX_THREADS
+    session_options.inter_op_num_threads = 1
+    session = onnxruntime.InferenceSession(
+        str(model_path),
+        sess_options=session_options,
+        providers=["CPUExecutionProvider"],
+    )
+    voice = PiperVoice(session=session, config=config, download_dir=CACHE_DIR)
+    print(
+        f"[tts] loaded Piper voice {VOICE_NAME} on CPU with {ONNX_THREADS} ONNX threads",
+        flush=True,
+    )
     server = ThreadingHTTPServer((HOST, PORT), SpeechHandler)
     server.voice = voice  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
     print(f"[tts] ready on {HOST}:{PORT}", flush=True)
diff --git a/services/hermes/voice-deployment.yaml b/services/hermes/voice-deployment.yaml
index e1f8bf2e0..778685d59 100644
--- a/services/hermes/voice-deployment.yaml
+++ b/services/hermes/voice-deployment.yaml
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ spec:
         kubernetes.io/hostname: titan-20
       containers:
         - name: tts
-          image: registry.bstein.dev/bstein/hermes-jetson-tts@sha256:1020a73e8941932dd071e5dcc66b5583ebb9376f9ee2fd1711b50e026eb88467
+          image: registry.bstein.dev/bstein/hermes-jetson-tts@sha256:82fbed67bd871e821e4fd745a49c91a3749dc6ad45ea4841dc3fb7cfbcd53e61
           imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
           ports:
             - {name: http, containerPort: 9001, protocol: TCP}
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ spec:
             - {name: HERMES_TTS_PORT, value: "9001"}
             - {name: HERMES_TTS_VOICE, value: en_US-lessac-high}
             - {name: HERMES_TTS_CACHE, value: /opt/models/piper}
+            - {name: HERMES_TTS_ONNX_THREADS, value: "4"}
           startupProbe:
             httpGet: {path: /health, port: http}
             periodSeconds: 5
@@ -159,8 +160,8 @@ spec:
           volumeMounts:
             - {name: tmp, mountPath: /tmp}
           resources:
-            requests: {cpu: 500m, memory: 512Mi}
-            limits: {cpu: "2", memory: 2Gi}
+            requests: {cpu: "1", memory: 512Mi}
+            limits: {cpu: "4", memory: 2Gi}
       volumes:
         - name: tmp
           emptyDir:
diff --git a/testing/tests/test_hermes_chat_quality.py b/testing/tests/test_hermes_chat_quality.py
index e0259c8dd..849a615ab 100644
--- a/testing/tests/test_hermes_chat_quality.py
+++ b/testing/tests/test_hermes_chat_quality.py
@@ -200,6 +200,7 @@ def test_voice_models_are_baked_and_runtime_has_no_public_egress():
     tts_server = (ROOT / "dockerfiles" / "hermes-jetson-tts-server.py").read_text()
     assert "download_voice" not in tts_server
     assert "baked Piper voice is missing" in tts_server
+    assert "session_options.intra_op_num_threads = ONNX_THREADS" in tts_server
 
     policies = _documents(HERMES / "networkpolicy.yaml")
     voice_policy = next(
@@ -237,6 +238,11 @@ def test_voice_workloads_have_deliberate_xavier_placement():
     assert stt_resources["requests"]["nvidia.com/gpu.shared"] == 1
     assert stt_resources["limits"]["nvidia.com/gpu.shared"] == 1
     assert "nvidia.com/gpu.shared" not in tts["containers"][0]["resources"]["requests"]
+    tts_env = {
+        item["name"]: item["value"] for item in tts["containers"][0]["env"]
+    }
+    assert tts_env["HERMES_TTS_ONNX_THREADS"] == "4"
+    assert tts["containers"][0]["resources"]["limits"]["cpu"] == "4"
     assert all("hostPath" not in volume for volume in stt["volumes"])
     assert all("hostPath" not in volume for volume in tts["volumes"])