diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/brltty/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/brltty/package.py
index 25757b259fc22d08e51709e52909f35e044ef9dd..d31d7ae3bfe57a70dc085dbcc5af0a43a9413f4d 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/brltty/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/brltty/package.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ class Brltty(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on('libtool',   type='build')
     depends_on('m4',        type='build')
     depends_on('expat')
+    depends_on('alsa-lib',        type='link')
 
     def autoreconf(self, spec, prefix):
         bash = which('bash')