diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a4696da..05f21ab 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [1.14.8] - 2024-05-14
+
+### Changed
+- AudioEventsConfig class now defaults to empty dict instead of empty list when types not provided
+
 ## [1.14.7] - 2024-04-08
 
 ## Fixed
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 52e779f..9be7846 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.14.7
+1.14.8
diff --git a/speechmatics/models.py b/speechmatics/models.py
index fae5751..270fac6 100644
--- a/speechmatics/models.py
+++ b/speechmatics/models.py
@@ -220,12 +220,12 @@ class AutoChaptersConfig:
 
 @dataclass
 class AudioEventsConfig:
-    types: Optional[List[str]]
+    types: Optional[List[str]] = None
     """Optional list of audio event types to detect."""
 
     def asdict(self):
         if self.types is None:
-            self.types = []
+            return {}
         return asdict(self)
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_models.py b/tests/test_models.py
index 5821763..62703cb 100644
--- a/tests/test_models.py
+++ b/tests/test_models.py
@@ -200,3 +200,23 @@ def test_topic_detection_config(params, want):
 def test_notification_config(params, want):
     notification_config = models.NotificationConfig(**params)
     assert asdict(notification_config) == want
+
+
+@mark.parametrize(
+    "params, want",
+    [
+        param(
+            {"types": None},
+            {},
+            id="default params",
+        ),
+        param(
+            {"types": ["music"]},
+            {"types": ["music"]},
+            id="set types param",
+        ),
+    ],
+)
+def test_audio_events_config_config(params, want):
+    audio_events_config = models.AudioEventsConfig(**params)
+    assert audio_events_config.asdict() == want