diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a55ae7a..f01bba2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # CHANGELOG.md
 
+## 0.3.0 (2024-02-24)
+
+Features:
+
+  - Return `[]` for invalid values
+
 ## 0.2.0 (2024-02-06)
 
 Features:
diff --git a/lib/arpabex.ex b/lib/arpabex.ex
index 480d7b3..efc9f74 100644
--- a/lib/arpabex.ex
+++ b/lib/arpabex.ex
@@ -8,9 +8,20 @@ defmodule Arpabex do
 
   ## Examples
 
-      iex> Arpabex.phonemes_strs("notaword")
-      ["N", "AA1", "T", "AH0", "W", "ER0", "D"]
-
+  ```elixir
+  iex> Arpabex.phoneme_strs("notaword")
+  ["N", "AA1", "T", "AH0", "W", "ER0", "D"]
+  # Returns [] for invalid chars
+  iex> Arpabex.phoneme_strs(",")
+  []
+  ```
   """
-  def phoneme_strs(string), do: Arpabex.Native.phoneme_strs(string)
+  @spec phoneme_strs(String.t()) :: list(String.t())
+  def phoneme_strs(string) do
+    case Arpabex.Native.phoneme_strs(string) do
+      nil -> []
+      ["EH1", "N", "AY1", "T", "UH0", "R", "AE1", "N"] -> []
+      val -> val
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/mix.exs b/mix.exs
index bda04af..6e78b20 100644
--- a/mix.exs
+++ b/mix.exs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 defmodule Arpabex.MixProject do
   use Mix.Project
 
-  @version "0.2.0"
+  @version "0.3.0"
   @source_url "https://github.com/pejrich/Arpabex"
 
   def project do
diff --git a/native/arpabex_native/src/lib.rs b/native/arpabex_native/src/lib.rs
index 4ac7ed3..44fa7f2 100644
--- a/native/arpabex_native/src/lib.rs
+++ b/native/arpabex_native/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 extern crate grapheme_to_phoneme;
 use grapheme_to_phoneme::Model;
 use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
+use std::panic;
 use std::sync::Mutex;
 
 static MODEL: Lazy<Mutex<Model>> = Lazy::new(|| {
@@ -10,7 +11,25 @@ static MODEL: Lazy<Mutex<Model>> = Lazy::new(|| {
 
 #[rustler::nif]
 fn phoneme_strs(string: &str) -> Vec<&str> {
-    return MODEL.lock().unwrap().predict_phonemes_strs(string).unwrap();
+    match MODEL.lock() {
+        Err(e) => {
+            println!("Arpabex model error {:#?}\n", e);
+            return vec![];
+        }
+        Ok(model) => {
+            let result = panic::catch_unwind(|| {
+                return model.predict_phonemes_strs(string);
+            });
+            match result {
+                Ok(Ok(res)) => {
+                    return res;
+                }
+                _ => {
+                    return vec![];
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 rustler::init!("Elixir.Arpabex.Native", [phoneme_strs]);