diff --git a/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/service/WatsonService.java b/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/service/WatsonService.java
index 11508b1228c..3e62bb1cd6c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/service/WatsonService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/service/WatsonService.java
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ public abstract class WatsonService {
   private String endPoint;
   private final String name;
   protected Headers defaultHeaders = null;
-  private boolean skipAuthentication = false;
+  protected boolean skipAuthentication = false;
 
   /** The Constant MESSAGE_CODE. */
   protected static final String MESSAGE_CODE = "code";
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/speech_to_text/v1/SpeechToText.java b/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/speech_to_text/v1/SpeechToText.java
index 84e5d2661cd..46211cd1e0b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/speech_to_text/v1/SpeechToText.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/speech_to_text/v1/SpeechToText.java
@@ -346,21 +346,25 @@ public void recognizeUsingWebSocket(final InputStream audio, final RecognizeOpti
     Validator.notNull(options, "options cannot be null");
     Validator.notNull(options.contentType(), "options.contentType cannot be null");
     Validator.notNull(callback, "callback cannot be null");
-
-      
-    getToken().enqueue(new ServiceCallback<String>() {
-      @Override
-      public void onFailure(Exception e) {
-        callback.onError(e);
-      }
-
-      @Override
-      public void onResponse(String token) {
-        String url = getEndPoint().replaceFirst("(https|http)", "wss");
-        WebSocketManager wsManager = new WebSocketManager(url + PATH_RECOGNIZE, configureHttpClient(), defaultHeaders, token);
-        wsManager.recognize(audio, options, callback);
-      }
-    });
-
+    
+    final String url = getEndPoint().replaceFirst("(https|http)", "wss");
+    
+    if (skipAuthentication) {
+      WebSocketManager wsManager = new WebSocketManager(url + PATH_RECOGNIZE, configureHttpClient(), defaultHeaders, null);
+      wsManager.recognize(audio, options, callback);
+    } else {
+      getToken().enqueue(new ServiceCallback<String>() {
+        @Override
+        public void onFailure(Exception e) {
+          callback.onError(e);
+        }
+  
+        @Override
+        public void onResponse(String token) {          
+          WebSocketManager wsManager = new WebSocketManager(url + PATH_RECOGNIZE, configureHttpClient(), defaultHeaders, token);
+          wsManager.recognize(audio, options, callback);
+        }
+      });
+   }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/speech_to_text/v1/websocket/WebSocketManager.java b/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/speech_to_text/v1/websocket/WebSocketManager.java
index 1a73f1b9b09..e23a84f43d8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/speech_to_text/v1/websocket/WebSocketManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/ibm/watson/developer_cloud/speech_to_text/v1/websocket/WebSocketManager.java
@@ -272,9 +272,12 @@ public WebSocketManager(String url, OkHttpClient client, Headers defaultHeaders,
   private WebSocketCall createConnection(RecognizeOptions options) {
     String speechModel = options.model() == null ? "" : "?model=" + options.model();
     Builder builder = new Request.Builder()
-      .url(url + speechModel)
-      .addHeader(HttpHeaders.X_WATSON_AUTHORIZATION_TOKEN, token);
+      .url(url + speechModel);
      
+    if (token != null) {
+      builder.addHeader(HttpHeaders.X_WATSON_AUTHORIZATION_TOKEN, token);
+    }
+    
     if (defaultHeaders != null) {
       for (String key : defaultHeaders.names()) {
         builder.header(key, defaultHeaders.get(key));