diff --git a/requirements/audio.txt b/requirements/audio.txt
index dcfc5b05740..6b08e0cb684 100644
--- a/requirements/audio.txt
+++ b/requirements/audio.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 # this need to be the same as used inside speechmetrics
 pesq >=0.0.4, <0.0.5
+numpy <2.0  # strict, for compatibility reasons
 pystoi >=0.4.0, <0.5.0
 torchaudio >=0.10.0, <2.6.0
 gammatone >=1.0.0, <1.1.0
diff --git a/requirements/base.txt b/requirements/base.txt
index 35f1b4406c7..9fc7a5e3fa8 100644
--- a/requirements/base.txt
+++ b/requirements/base.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # NOTE: the upper bound for the package version is only set for CI stability, and it is dropped while installing this package
 #  in case you want to preserve/enforce restrictions on the latest compatible version, add "strict" as an in-line comment
 
-numpy >1.20.0, <2.0  # strict, for compatibility reasons
+numpy >1.20.0
 packaging >17.1
 torch >=1.10.0, <2.6.0
 typing-extensions; python_version < '3.9'