diff --git a/audio/paaudio.c b/audio/paaudio.c
index 3e6580a5ee50..2cba492d8265 100644
--- a/audio/paaudio.c
+++ b/audio/paaudio.c
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ static int qpa_init_out(HWVoiceOut *hw, struct audsettings *as,
 
     pa->stream = qpa_simple_new (
         c,
-        g->dev->id,
+        ppdo->has_stream_name ? ppdo->stream_name : g->dev->id,
         PA_STREAM_PLAYBACK,
         ppdo->has_name ? ppdo->name : NULL,
         &ss,
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ static int qpa_init_in(HWVoiceIn *hw, struct audsettings *as, void *drv_opaque)
 
     pa->stream = qpa_simple_new (
         c,
-        g->dev->id,
+        ppdo->has_stream_name ? ppdo->stream_name : g->dev->id,
         PA_STREAM_RECORD,
         ppdo->has_name ? ppdo->name : NULL,
         &ss,
diff --git a/qapi/audio.json b/qapi/audio.json
index 9fefdf5186dd..e45218f081f2 100644
--- a/qapi/audio.json
+++ b/qapi/audio.json
@@ -206,6 +206,11 @@
 #
 # @name: name of the sink/source to use
 #
+# @stream-name: name of the PulseAudio stream created by qemu.  Can be
+#               used to identify the stream in PulseAudio when you
+#               create multiple PulseAudio devices or run multiple qemu
+#               instances (default: audiodev's id, since 4.2)
+#
 # @latency: latency you want PulseAudio to achieve in microseconds
 #           (default 15000)
 #
@@ -215,6 +220,7 @@
   'base': 'AudiodevPerDirectionOptions',
   'data': {
     '*name': 'str',
+    '*stream-name': 'str',
     '*latency': 'uint32' } }
 
 ##