diff --git a/.changeset/tender-queens-drum.md b/.changeset/tender-queens-drum.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9ee3f1919
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/tender-queens-drum.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@livekit/agents-plugin-elevenlabs': patch
+---
+
+check for errors in elevenlabs
diff --git a/plugins/elevenlabs/src/errors.ts b/plugins/elevenlabs/src/errors.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eb19ed09a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/elevenlabs/src/errors.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025 LiveKit, Inc.
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+/**
+ * Base error class for ElevenLabs-specific exceptions
+ */
+export class ElevenLabsError extends Error {
+  public readonly statusCode?: number;
+  public readonly body?: unknown;
+
+  constructor({
+    message,
+    statusCode,
+    body,
+  }: {
+    message?: string;
+    statusCode?: number;
+    body?: unknown;
+  }) {
+    super(buildMessage({ message, statusCode, body }));
+    Object.setPrototypeOf(this, ElevenLabsError.prototype);
+    this.statusCode = statusCode;
+    this.body = body;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Error thrown when a request to ElevenLabs times out
+ */
+export class ElevenLabsTimeoutError extends Error {
+  constructor(message: string) {
+    super(message);
+    Object.setPrototypeOf(this, ElevenLabsTimeoutError.prototype);
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Error thrown when WebSocket connection fails
+ */
+export class ElevenLabsConnectionError extends ElevenLabsError {
+  public readonly retries: number;
+
+  constructor({
+    message,
+    retries,
+    statusCode,
+    body,
+  }: {
+    message?: string;
+    retries: number;
+    statusCode?: number;
+    body?: unknown;
+  }) {
+    super({ message, statusCode, body });
+    Object.setPrototypeOf(this, ElevenLabsConnectionError.prototype);
+    this.retries = retries;
+  }
+}
+
+function buildMessage({
+  message,
+  statusCode,
+  body,
+}: {
+  message: string | undefined;
+  statusCode: number | undefined;
+  body: unknown | undefined;
+}): string {
+  const lines: string[] = [];
+  if (message != null) {
+    lines.push(message);
+  }
+
+  if (statusCode != null) {
+    lines.push(`Status code: ${statusCode.toString()}`);
+  }
+
+  if (body != null) {
+    lines.push(`Body: ${JSON.stringify(body, undefined, 2)}`);
+  }
+
+  return lines.join('\n');
+}
diff --git a/plugins/elevenlabs/src/index.ts b/plugins/elevenlabs/src/index.ts
index 66c4eeff6..68b82c31c 100644
--- a/plugins/elevenlabs/src/index.ts
+++ b/plugins/elevenlabs/src/index.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 import { Plugin } from '@livekit/agents';
 
+export * from './errors.js';
 export * from './tts.js';
 
 class ElevenLabsPlugin extends Plugin {
diff --git a/plugins/elevenlabs/src/tts.ts b/plugins/elevenlabs/src/tts.ts
index 31793f981..246931ec5 100644
--- a/plugins/elevenlabs/src/tts.ts
+++ b/plugins/elevenlabs/src/tts.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import {
 import type { AudioFrame } from '@livekit/rtc-node';
 import { URL } from 'node:url';
 import { type RawData, WebSocket } from 'ws';
+import { ElevenLabsConnectionError, ElevenLabsError } from './errors.js';
 import type { TTSEncoding, TTSModels } from './models.js';
 
 const DEFAULT_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT = 300;
@@ -213,7 +214,10 @@ export class SynthesizeStream extends tts.SynthesizeStream {
         break;
       } catch (e) {
         if (retries >= maxRetry) {
-          throw new Error(`failed to connect to ElevenLabs after ${retries} attempts: ${e}`);
+          throw new ElevenLabsConnectionError({
+            message: `Failed to connect to ElevenLabs after ${retries} attempts: ${e}`,
+            retries,
+          });
         }
 
         const delay = Math.min(retries * 5, 5);
@@ -298,6 +302,12 @@ export class SynthesizeStream extends tts.SynthesizeStream {
             });
           }).then((msg) => {
             const json = JSON.parse(msg.toString());
+            if (json.error) {
+              throw new ElevenLabsError({
+                message: json.error,
+                body: json,
+              });
+            }
             // remove the "audio" field from the json object when printing
             if ('audio' in json && json.audio !== null) {
               const data = new Int8Array(Buffer.from(json.audio, 'base64'));
@@ -324,6 +334,7 @@ export class SynthesizeStream extends tts.SynthesizeStream {
           // skip log error for normal websocket close
           if (err instanceof Error && !err.message.includes('WebSocket closed')) {
             this.#logger.error({ err }, 'Error in listenTask from ElevenLabs WebSocket');
+            throw err;
           }
           break;
         }