diff --git a/src/pipecat/services/nvidia/sagemaker/tts.py b/src/pipecat/services/nvidia/sagemaker/tts.py
index 8a0e3cd5d..90d85bc97 100644
--- a/src/pipecat/services/nvidia/sagemaker/tts.py
+++ b/src/pipecat/services/nvidia/sagemaker/tts.py
@@ -479,9 +479,7 @@ class NvidiaSageMakerTTSService(InterruptibleTTSService):
         """Send text to NIM; audio arrives asynchronously via _receive_messages."""
         logger.debug(f"{self}: Generating TTS [{text}]")
 
-        text = sanitize_text_for_tts(text)
-
-        logger.debug(f"{self}: sanitized text: {text}")
+        text = text.strip()
         if not text or not any(c.isalnum() for c in text):
             return
 
diff --git a/src/pipecat/utils/text/tts_text_sanitizer.py b/src/pipecat/utils/text/tts_text_sanitizer.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 919c0946d..000000000
--- a/src/pipecat/utils/text/tts_text_sanitizer.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,131 +0,0 @@
-#
-# Copyright (c) 2024-2026, Daily
-#
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD 2-Clause License
-#
-
-"""Utility for stripping non-speakable characters and markdown formatting from text.
-
-Both NvidiaSageMakerHTTPTTSService and NvidiaSageMakerWebsocketTTSService
-use :func:`sanitize_text_for_tts` so the logic lives in one place.
-"""
-
-import re
-
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Emoji / symbol ranges
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-_EMOJI_PATTERN = re.compile(
-    "["
-    "\U0001f600-\U0001f64f"  # Emoticons
-    "\U0001f300-\U0001f5ff"  # Misc Symbols and Pictographs
-    "\U0001f680-\U0001f6ff"  # Transport and Map
-    "\U0001f700-\U0001f77f"  # Alchemical Symbols
-    "\U0001f780-\U0001f7ff"  # Geometric Shapes Extended
-    "\U0001f800-\U0001f8ff"  # Supplemental Arrows-C
-    "\U0001f900-\U0001f9ff"  # Supplemental Symbols and Pictographs
-    "\U0001fa00-\U0001fa6f"  # Chess Symbols
-    "\U0001fa70-\U0001faff"  # Symbols and Pictographs Extended-A
-    "\U00002702-\U000027b0"  # Dingbats
-    "\U0001f1e0-\U0001f1ff"  # Flags (iOS)
-    "]+",
-    flags=re.UNICODE,
-)
-
-
-def sanitize_text_for_tts(text: str) -> str:
-    """Remove emojis and markdown formatting that should not be spoken aloud.
-
-    Transformations applied (in order):
-    1. Fenced code blocks  (``` ... ```) → removed entirely
-    2. Markdown headers    (# / ## / …)  → header text kept, # stripped
-    3. Horizontal rules    (--- / *** / ___) → removed
-    4. Table separator rows (|---|---|)  → removed
-    5. Table data rows      (| a | b |)  → cells joined with commas
-    6. Bold / italic markers (**x**, *x*, __x__, _x_) → text kept, markers stripped
-    7. Blockquote markers   (> …)        → marker stripped, text kept
-    8. Inline code backticks (`x`)       → backticks stripped, text kept
-    9. Emojis                            → removed
-    10. Curly quotes → straight quotes
-        Em/en dashes → comma (natural pause, not a spoken symbol)
-        Separator hyphens ( - ) → comma
-        Unordered list bullets (^- , ^* ) → removed
-        Remaining bare * and _ → removed
-        Other non-speakable symbols → removed
-    11. Collapse extra whitespace
-
-    Args:
-        text: Raw text, potentially containing markdown and/or emoji.
-
-    Returns:
-        Plain text suitable for speech synthesis.
-    """
-    # 1. Fenced code blocks
-    text = re.sub(r"```[\s\S]*?```", "", text)
-
-    # 2. Markdown headers  (# Heading → Heading)
-    text = re.sub(r"^#{1,6}\s+", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
-
-    # 3. Horizontal rules (---, ***, ___ on their own line)
-    text = re.sub(r"^\s*[-*_]{3,}\s*$", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
-
-    # 4. Table separator rows  |---|:---:|---|
-    text = re.sub(r"^\s*\|[\s\-|:]+\|\s*$", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
-
-    # 5. Table data rows  | cell | cell | → cell, cell
-    def _table_row_to_csv(m: re.Match) -> str:
-        cells = [c.strip() for c in m.group(1).split("|")]
-        return ", ".join(c for c in cells if c)
-
-    text = re.sub(r"^\s*\|(.+)\|\s*$", _table_row_to_csv, text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
-
-    # 6. Bold / italic  (**x**, *x*, __x__, _x_)
-    #    Handle triple before double before single to avoid partial matches.
-    text = re.sub(r"\*{3}([^*]+)\*{3}", r"\1", text)
-    text = re.sub(r"\*{2}([^*]+)\*{2}", r"\1", text)
-    text = re.sub(r"\*([^*\s][^*]*[^*\s]|\S)\*", r"\1", text)
-    text = re.sub(r"_{3}([^_]+)_{3}", r"\1", text)
-    text = re.sub(r"_{2}([^_]+)_{2}", r"\1", text)
-    text = re.sub(r"_([^_\s][^_]*[^_\s]|\S)_", r"\1", text)
-
-    # 7. Blockquote markers
-    text = re.sub(r"^\s*>\s*", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
-
-    # 8. Inline code backticks
-    text = re.sub(r"`([^`]*)`", r"\1", text)
-
-    # 9. Emojis
-    text = _EMOJI_PATTERN.sub("", text)
-
-    # 10. Typographic and non-speakable characters
-
-    # Curly quotes → straight equivalents (speakable)
-    text = text.replace("\u2018", "'")  # LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK
-    text = text.replace("\u2019", "'")  # RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK
-    text = text.replace("\u201c", '"')  # LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK
-    text = text.replace("\u201d", '"')  # RIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK
-
-    # Em/en dashes → comma (they mark a pause, not a spoken symbol)
-    text = text.replace("\u2014", ", ")  # EM DASH
-    text = text.replace("\u2013", ", ")  # EN DASH
-
-    # Hyphen used as a separator ( - ) → comma; keep word-hyphens (e.g. "well-known")
-    text = re.sub(r"(?<= )- | -(?= )", ", ", text)
-
-    # Unordered list bullets at line start (not caught by step 3)
-    text = re.sub(r"^[\s]*[-*]\s+", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
-
-    # Remaining bare * and _ (e.g. orphaned markers)
-    text = text.replace("*", "")
-    text = text.replace("_", " ")
-
-    # Other symbols that TTS engines typically misread or glitch on
-    text = re.sub(r"[\\|<>{}[\]~^=+#@]", "", text)
-
-    # 11. Collapse whitespace
-    text = re.sub(r"\n{3,}", "\n\n", text)  # no more than one blank line
-    text = re.sub(r"[ \t]+", " ", text)  # collapse spaces/tabs
-    # text = text.strip()
-
-    return text