diff --git a/libavcodec/flacdsp.c b/libavcodec/flacdsp.c
index 180d4e7ba6..52c3e32ed0 100644
--- a/libavcodec/flacdsp.c
+++ b/libavcodec/flacdsp.c
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 
 // For debuging we use signed operations so overflows can be detected (by ubsan)
 // For production we use unsigned so there are no undefined operations
-#ifdef DEBUG
+#ifdef CHECKED
 #define SUINT   int
 #else
 #define SUINT   unsigned
diff --git a/libavutil/internal.h b/libavutil/internal.h
index a19975d474..4d1b3e2c18 100644
--- a/libavutil/internal.h
+++ b/libavutil/internal.h
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@
 #    define NDEBUG
 #endif
 
+#if defined(DEBUG) && !defined(CHECKED)
+#    define CHECKED
+#endif
+
 #include <limits.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stddef.h>