diff --git a/package/alsa-utils/Config.in b/package/alsa-utils/Config.in
index 1a48fc0315..edf5d39f26 100644
--- a/package/alsa-utils/Config.in
+++ b/package/alsa-utils/Config.in
@@ -76,7 +76,13 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_UTILS_ASEQNET
 
 config BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_UTILS_BAT
 	bool "bat"
-	select BR2_PACKAGE_FFTW
+	help
+	  ALSABAT (ALSA Basic Audio Tester) is a simple command-line
+	  utility intended to help automate audio driver and sound
+	  server testing with little human interaction.
+
+	  Note that analysis support in alsabat requires fftw single
+	  precision.
 
 config BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_UTILS_IECSET
 	bool "iecset"
diff --git a/package/alsa-utils/alsa-utils.mk b/package/alsa-utils/alsa-utils.mk
index 9b2e64b1d3..e9a45c675f 100644
--- a/package/alsa-utils/alsa-utils.mk
+++ b/package/alsa-utils/alsa-utils.mk
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ endif
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_UTILS_BAT),y)
 ALSA_UTILS_CONF_OPTS += --enable-bat
-ALSA_UTILS_DEPENDENCIES += fftw
+# Analysis support requires fftw single precision
+ALSA_UTILS_DEPENDENCIES += $(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_FFTW_PRECISION_SINGLE),fftw)
 else
 ALSA_UTILS_CONF_OPTS += --disable-bat
 endif