diff --git a/agents/src/voice/agent_activity.test.ts b/agents/src/voice/agent_activity.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4d524ee78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/agents/src/voice/agent_activity.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025 LiveKit, Inc.
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { initializeLogger } from '../log.js';
+import { Future, delay } from '../utils.js';
+import { Agent } from './agent.js';
+import { AgentActivity } from './agent_activity.js';
+import { AgentSession } from './agent_session.js';
+import { SpeechHandle } from './speech_handle.js';
+
+// Initialize logger for tests
+initializeLogger({ pretty: true, level: 'error' });
+
+describe('AgentActivity - Issue #836: mainTask hanging when interrupting queued speech', () => {
+  describe('Real AgentActivity integration', () => {
+    it('should directly test mainTask with queue inspection', async () => {
+      // Create AgentActivity with access to private methods
+      const agent = new Agent({ instructions: 'Test agent' });
+      const agentSession = new AgentSession({});
+      const agentActivity = new AgentActivity(agent, agentSession);
+
+      await agentActivity.start();
+
+      // Access private members through casting
+      const activity = agentActivity as any;
+
+      // Create speeches
+      const speech1 = SpeechHandle.create();
+      const speech2 = SpeechHandle.create();
+      const speech3 = SpeechHandle.create();
+
+      // Interrupt speech2
+      speech2.interrupt();
+
+      // Directly access and inspect the queue
+      expect(activity.speechQueue.size()).toBe(0);
+
+      // Schedule speeches
+      activity.scheduleSpeech(speech1, 5);
+      activity.scheduleSpeech(speech2, 5);
+      activity.scheduleSpeech(speech3, 5);
+
+      // Verify queue size
+      expect(activity.speechQueue.size()).toBe(3);
+
+      // Mark generations done for non-interrupted speeches
+      setTimeout(() => {
+        if (!speech1.interrupted) speech1._markGenerationDone();
+      }, 50);
+      setTimeout(() => {
+        if (!speech3.interrupted) speech3._markGenerationDone();
+      }, 100);
+
+      // Wait for mainTask to process
+      await delay(250);
+
+      // After processing, queue should be empty
+      expect(activity.speechQueue.size()).toBe(0);
+
+      // Verify current speech is cleared
+      expect(activity._currentSpeech).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    it('should test mainTask queue processing order with priorities', async () => {
+      // Test that mainTask respects priority ordering
+      const agent = new Agent({ instructions: 'Test agent' });
+      const agentSession = new AgentSession({});
+      const agentActivity = new AgentActivity(agent, agentSession);
+
+      await agentActivity.start();
+
+      const activity = agentActivity as any;
+
+      // Create speeches with different priorities
+      const lowPriority = SpeechHandle.create();
+      const normalPriority = SpeechHandle.create();
+      const highPriority = SpeechHandle.create();
+
+      // Interrupt all to make processing fast
+      lowPriority.interrupt();
+      normalPriority.interrupt();
+      highPriority.interrupt();
+
+      // Schedule in reverse priority order to test queue sorting
+      activity.scheduleSpeech(lowPriority, 0); // SPEECH_PRIORITY_LOW
+      activity.scheduleSpeech(normalPriority, 5); // SPEECH_PRIORITY_NORMAL
+      activity.scheduleSpeech(highPriority, 10); // SPEECH_PRIORITY_HIGH
+
+      // Queue should have 3 items
+      expect(activity.speechQueue.size()).toBe(3);
+
+      // Wait for mainTask to process
+      await delay(200);
+
+      // Queue should be empty after processing
+      expect(activity.speechQueue.size()).toBe(0);
+
+      // All speeches should be scheduled and interrupted
+      [lowPriority, normalPriority, highPriority].forEach((s) => {
+        expect(s.scheduled).toBe(true);
+        expect(s.interrupted).toBe(true);
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should verify mainTask does not hang with manual abort signal test', async () => {
+      // This test manually calls mainTask and tests abort behavior
+      const agent = new Agent({ instructions: 'Test agent' });
+      const agentSession = new AgentSession({});
+      const agentActivity = new AgentActivity(agent, agentSession);
+
+      // Don't start() - we'll manually set up for mainTask testing
+      const activity = agentActivity as any;
+
+      // Create an abort controller to stop mainTask
+      const abortController = new AbortController();
+
+      // Create interrupted speeches
+      const speech1 = SpeechHandle.create();
+      const speech2 = SpeechHandle.create();
+      speech1.interrupt();
+      speech2.interrupt();
+
+      // Manually add to queue
+      activity.speechQueue.push([5, 1000, speech1]);
+      activity.speechQueue.push([5, 2000, speech2]);
+      activity.q_updated = new Future();
+      activity.q_updated.resolve(); // Wake up mainTask
+
+      // Call mainTask directly with timeout protection
+      const mainTaskPromise = activity.mainTask(abortController.signal);
+
+      // Let mainTask process the interrupted speeches
+      await delay(100);
+
+      // Abort the mainTask
+      abortController.abort();
+
+      // mainTask should exit cleanly without hanging
+      const timeoutPromise = new Promise((_, reject) =>
+        setTimeout(() => reject(new Error('mainTask did not exit after abort')), 1000),
+      );
+
+      await expect(Promise.race([mainTaskPromise, timeoutPromise])).resolves.not.toThrow();
+
+      // Queue should be empty
+      expect(activity.speechQueue.size()).toBe(0);
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/agents/src/voice/speech_handle.ts b/agents/src/voice/speech_handle.ts
index 5e4a55e94..59103afcc 100644
--- a/agents/src/voice/speech_handle.ts
+++ b/agents/src/voice/speech_handle.ts
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ export class SpeechHandle {
     if (!generation) {
       throw new Error(`Generation at index ${index} not found.`);
     }
-    return generation.await;
+    return Promise.race([generation.await, this.interruptFut.await]);
   }
 
   /** @internal */