diff --git a/src/mess/machine/ti99/speech8.c b/src/mess/machine/ti99/speech8.c
index b4dbe99b6c6..f9613007d87 100644
--- a/src/mess/machine/ti99/speech8.c
+++ b/src/mess/machine/ti99/speech8.c
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 
 ti998_spsyn_device::ti998_spsyn_device(const machine_config &mconfig, const char *tag, device_t *owner, UINT32 clock)
 : bus8z_device(mconfig, TI99_SPEECH8, "TI-99/8 Speech synthesizer (onboard)", tag, owner, clock)
+, m_load_pointer(0)
 {
 	m_shortname = "ti99_speech8";
 }