diff --git a/speech/cloud-client/transcribe_streaming.py b/speech/cloud-client/transcribe_streaming.py
index 76829f5ba5a0..de727c221592 100644
--- a/speech/cloud-client/transcribe_streaming.py
+++ b/speech/cloud-client/transcribe_streaming.py
@@ -21,12 +21,12 @@
 """
 
 import argparse
-import io
 
 
 # [START speech_transcribe_streaming]
 def transcribe_streaming(stream_file):
     """Streams transcription of the given audio file."""
+    import io
     from google.cloud import speech
     from google.cloud.speech import enums
     from google.cloud.speech import types