diff --git a/libavcodec/aac.c b/libavcodec/aac.c
index 57bafda0a6..f803d79624 100644
--- a/libavcodec/aac.c
+++ b/libavcodec/aac.c
@@ -1576,7 +1576,10 @@ static int aac_decode_frame(AVCodecContext * avccontext, void * data, int * data
         }
         if(elem_type < TYPE_DSE) {
             if(!ac->che[elem_type][elem_id])
+            {
+                av_log(ac->avccontext, AV_LOG_ERROR, "channel element %d.%d is not allocated\n", elem_type, elem_id);
                 return -1;
+            }
         }
 
         switch (elem_type) {