diff --git a/litellm/realtime_api/main.py b/litellm/realtime_api/main.py
index d42e7e18b75..44c47af57f4 100644
--- a/litellm/realtime_api/main.py
+++ b/litellm/realtime_api/main.py
@@ -586,9 +586,7 @@ def _azure_realtime_health_protocol(
     configured: Final = configured_raw if isinstance(configured_raw, str) else None
     if configured is not None:
         return configured, query_params
-    if query_params is not None:
-        return "GA", query_params
-    return "beta", None
+    return "GA", query_params
 
 
 def _realtime_health_check_auth_headers(
@@ -621,8 +619,8 @@ async def _realtime_health_check(
         api_key: str - api key
         custom_llm_provider: str - custom llm provider
         realtime_protocol: Optional[str] - protocol version ("GA"/"v1" for GA path, "beta" for beta path);
-            None resolves it for Azure from model_params/env, with transcription-only models probing GA
-            plus intent=transcription the way real calls do
+            None resolves it for Azure from model_params/env and otherwise probes GA, the upstream a client
+            without the OpenAI-Beta header is bridged to, with transcription-only models adding intent=transcription
 
     Returns:
         bool - True if connection is successful, False otherwise
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/realtime_api/test_main.py b/tests/test_litellm/realtime_api/test_main.py
index 8a9abe819e5..0827bbcdc38 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/realtime_api/test_main.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/realtime_api/test_main.py
@@ -266,7 +266,8 @@ def test_transcription_only_detection_rejects_speech_model(local_model_cost_map)
 
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
-async def test_azure_health_check_keeps_beta_path_for_speech_model():
+async def test_azure_health_check_probes_the_ga_upstream_for_an_unconfigured_speech_model(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.delenv("LITELLM_AZURE_REALTIME_PROTOCOL", raising=False)
     connect = _CapturingConnect()
     with patch("websockets.connect", connect):
         assert await realtime_main._realtime_health_check(
@@ -276,14 +277,18 @@ async def test_azure_health_check_keeps_beta_path_for_speech_model():
             api_base="https://my-endpoint.openai.azure.com",
             api_version="2024-10-01-preview",
         )
-    assert connect.url == (
-        "wss://my-endpoint.openai.azure.com/openai/realtime"
-        "?api-version=2024-10-01-preview&deployment=gpt-4o-realtime-preview"
-    )
+    assert connect.url == "wss://my-endpoint.openai.azure.com/openai/v1/realtime?model=gpt-4o-realtime-preview"
+
+
+_AZURE_BETA_HEALTH_URL: Final = (
+    "wss://my-endpoint.openai.azure.com/openai/realtime"
+    "?api-version=2024-10-01-preview&deployment=gpt-4o-realtime-preview"
+)
 
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
-async def test_azure_health_check_honors_deployment_realtime_protocol():
+async def test_azure_health_check_honors_deployment_realtime_protocol(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.delenv("LITELLM_AZURE_REALTIME_PROTOCOL", raising=False)
     connect = _CapturingConnect()
     with patch("websockets.connect", connect):
         assert await realtime_main._realtime_health_check(
@@ -292,9 +297,24 @@ async def test_azure_health_check_honors_deployment_realtime_protocol():
             api_key="fake-key",
             api_base="https://my-endpoint.openai.azure.com",
             api_version="2024-10-01-preview",
-            model_params={"realtime_protocol": "GA"},
+            model_params={"realtime_protocol": "beta"},
         )
-    assert connect.url == "wss://my-endpoint.openai.azure.com/openai/v1/realtime?model=gpt-4o-realtime-preview"
+    assert connect.url == _AZURE_BETA_HEALTH_URL
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_azure_health_check_honors_env_realtime_protocol(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("LITELLM_AZURE_REALTIME_PROTOCOL", "beta")
+    connect = _CapturingConnect()
+    with patch("websockets.connect", connect):
+        assert await realtime_main._realtime_health_check(
+            model="gpt-4o-realtime-preview",
+            custom_llm_provider="azure",
+            api_key="fake-key",
+            api_base="https://my-endpoint.openai.azure.com",
+            api_version="2024-10-01-preview",
+        )
+    assert connect.url == _AZURE_BETA_HEALTH_URL
 
 
 class _ConnectThatStopsAfterCapturingTheUrl: