diff --git a/docs/man/xl.cfg.5.pod.in b/docs/man/xl.cfg.5.pod.in
index 6d98d73d76..b2901e04cf 100644
--- a/docs/man/xl.cfg.5.pod.in
+++ b/docs/man/xl.cfg.5.pod.in
@@ -2555,9 +2555,9 @@ The form serial=DEVICE is also accepted for backwards compatibility.
 
 =item B<soundhw="DEVICE">
 
-Select the virtual sound card to expose to the guest. The valid
-devices are defined by the device model configuration, please see the
-B<qemu(1)> manpage for details. The default is not to export any sound
+Select the virtual sound card to expose to the guest. The valid devices are
+B<hda>, B<ac97>, B<es1370>, B<adlib>, B<cs4231a>, B<gus>, B<sb16> if there are
+available with the device model QEMU. The default is not to export any sound
 device.
 
 =item B<vkb_device=BOOLEAN>
diff --git a/tools/libs/light/libxl_dm.c b/tools/libs/light/libxl_dm.c
index 04bf5d8563..fc264a3a13 100644
--- a/tools/libs/light/libxl_dm.c
+++ b/tools/libs/light/libxl_dm.c
@@ -1204,6 +1204,7 @@ static int libxl__build_device_model_args_new(libxl__gc *gc,
     uint64_t ram_size;
     const char *path, *chardev;
     bool is_stubdom = libxl_defbool_val(b_info->device_model_stubdomain);
+    int rc;
 
     dm_args = flexarray_make(gc, 16, 1);
     dm_envs = flexarray_make(gc, 16, 1);
@@ -1531,7 +1532,23 @@ static int libxl__build_device_model_args_new(libxl__gc *gc,
             }
         }
         if (b_info->u.hvm.soundhw) {
-            flexarray_vappend(dm_args, "-soundhw", b_info->u.hvm.soundhw, NULL);
+            libxl__qemu_soundhw soundhw;
+
+            rc = libxl__qemu_soundhw_from_string(b_info->u.hvm.soundhw, &soundhw);
+            if (rc) {
+                LOGD(ERROR, guest_domid, "Unknown soundhw option '%s'", b_info->u.hvm.soundhw);
+                return ERROR_INVAL;
+            }
+
+            switch (soundhw) {
+            case LIBXL__QEMU_SOUNDHW_HDA:
+                flexarray_vappend(dm_args, "-device", "intel-hda",
+                                  "-device", "hda-duplex", NULL);
+                break;
+            default:
+                flexarray_append_pair(dm_args, "-device",
+                                      (char*)libxl__qemu_soundhw_to_string(soundhw));
+            }
         }
         if (!libxl__acpi_defbool_val(b_info)) {
             flexarray_append(dm_args, "-no-acpi");
diff --git a/tools/libs/light/libxl_types_internal.idl b/tools/libs/light/libxl_types_internal.idl
index 8f71980aec..fb0f4f23d7 100644
--- a/tools/libs/light/libxl_types_internal.idl
+++ b/tools/libs/light/libxl_types_internal.idl
@@ -56,3 +56,13 @@ libxl__device_action = Enumeration("device_action", [
     (1, "ADD"),
     (2, "REMOVE"),
     ])
+
+libxl__qemu_soundhw = Enumeration("qemu_soundhw", [
+    (1, "ac97"),
+    (2, "adlib"),
+    (3, "cs4231a"),
+    (4, "es1370"),
+    (5, "gus"),
+    (6, "hda"),
+    (7, "sb16"),
+    ])