diff --git a/kws/model/mdtc.py b/kws/model/mdtc.py
index 5ad615e..74d2535 100644
--- a/kws/model/mdtc.py
+++ b/kws/model/mdtc.py
@@ -186,9 +186,7 @@ class MDTC(nn.Module):
         causal: bool,
     ):
         super(MDTC, self).__init__()
-        if kernel_size % 2 == 0:
-            print("The kernel size of MDTC must be an odd number")
-            exit(1)
+        assert kernel_size % 2 == 0
         self.kernel_size = kernel_size
         self.causal = causal
         self.preprocessor = TCNBlock(in_channels,