diff --git a/picard/tagger.py b/picard/tagger.py
index 5c1f1dcf38e..8ecb834c603 100644
--- a/picard/tagger.py
+++ b/picard/tagger.py
@@ -256,6 +256,33 @@ def __init__(self, picard_args, localedir, autoupdate, pipe_handler=None):
         if picard_args.debug or "PICARD_DEBUG" in os.environ:
             self.set_log_level(logging.DEBUG)
 
+        if sys.version_info[:3] > (3,8):
+            if picard_args.audit:
+                if picard_args.audit == 'all':
+                    def event_match(event):
+                        return True
+                else:
+                    events = set(tuple(e.split('.')) for e in picard_args.audit.split(','))
+                    print(events)
+                    def event_match(event):
+                        ev = tuple(event.split('.'))
+                        ev_len = len(ev)
+                        for e in events:
+                            e_len = len(e)
+                            if e_len > ev_len:
+                                continue
+                            for i in range(e_len):
+                                if e[i] != ev[i]:
+                                    return False
+                            return True
+                        return False
+
+                def audit(event, args):
+                    if event_match(event):
+                        print(f'audit: {event} with args={args}')
+
+                sys.addaudithook(audit)
+
         # Main thread pool used for most background tasks
         self.thread_pool = QtCore.QThreadPool(self)
         # Two threads are needed for the pipe handler and command processing.
@@ -1437,6 +1464,11 @@ def process_picard_args():
     parser.add_argument("-display", nargs=1, help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
 
     # Picard specific arguments
+    if sys.version_info[:3] > (3,8):
+        parser.add_argument("-a", "--audit", action='store',
+                            default=None,
+                            help="audit events passed as a comma-separated list, prefixes supported, "
+                            "use all to match any (see https://docs.python.org/3/library/audit_events.html#audit-events)")
     parser.add_argument("-c", "--config-file", action='store',
                         default=None,
                         help="location of the configuration file")