diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b7cf35099..076e1b817 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -493,7 +493,11 @@ endif()
 
 # Check for libcanberra-gtk3 (sound events on Linux):
 if(UNIX AND (NOT APPLE))
-    pkg_check_modules(CANBERRA-GTK REQUIRED libcanberra-gtk3)
+    option(USE_LIBCANBERRA "Build with libcanberra" ON)
+    if(USE_LIBCANBERRA)
+       pkg_check_modules(CANBERRA-GTK REQUIRED libcanberra-gtk3)
+       add_definitions(-DUSE_CANBERRA)
+    endif()
 endif()
 
 if(WITH_MYFILE_MMAP)
diff --git a/rtgui/soundman.cc b/rtgui/soundman.cc
index a4cf5337b..d038ffd72 100644
--- a/rtgui/soundman.cc
+++ b/rtgui/soundman.cc
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 #include <mmsystem.h>
 #endif
 
-#ifdef __linux__
+#if defined(__linux__) && defined(USE_CANBERRA)
 #include <canberra-gtk.h>
 #endif
 
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ void SoundManager::playSoundAsync(const Glib::ustring &sound)
     wchar_t *wfilename = (wchar_t*)g_utf8_to_utf16 (sound.c_str(), -1, NULL, NULL, NULL);
     PlaySoundW(wfilename, NULL, sndParam);
     g_free( wfilename );
-#elif defined(__linux__)
+#elif defined(__linux__) && defined(USE_CANBERRA)
     ca_context_play(ca_gtk_context_get(), 0, CA_PROP_EVENT_ID, sound.c_str(), CA_PROP_MEDIA_FILENAME, sound.c_str(), NULL);
 #endif
 }