diff --git a/speech/grpc/transcribe.py b/speech/grpc/transcribe.py
index b519e29e8f6f..d877eba08c16 100644
--- a/speech/grpc/transcribe.py
+++ b/speech/grpc/transcribe.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ def _gcs_uri(text):
         '--encoding', default='FLAC', choices=[
             'LINEAR16', 'FLAC', 'MULAW', 'AMR', 'AMR_WB'],
         help='How the audio file is encoded. See {}#L67'.format(PROTO_URL))
-    parser.add_argument('--sample_rate', default=16000)
+    parser.add_argument('--sample_rate', type=int, default=16000)
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
     main(args.input_uri, args.encoding, args.sample_rate)
diff --git a/speech/grpc/transcribe_async.py b/speech/grpc/transcribe_async.py
index dfe35660d624..0835ab892ca3 100644
--- a/speech/grpc/transcribe_async.py
+++ b/speech/grpc/transcribe_async.py
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ def _gcs_uri(text):
         help='How the audio file is encoded. See {}#L67'.format(
             'https://github.com/googleapis/googleapis/blob/master/'
             'google/cloud/speech/v1beta1/cloud_speech.proto'))
-    parser.add_argument('--sample_rate', default=16000)
+    parser.add_argument('--sample_rate', type=int, default=16000)
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
     main(args.input_uri, args.encoding, args.sample_rate)