diff --git a/src/randomProcesses/noise/noiseModels/surfaceNoise/surfaceNoise.C b/src/randomProcesses/noise/noiseModels/surfaceNoise/surfaceNoise.C
index 00b4386b009f7f7b3362988ae1a9fe85a8bf2a1a..1ff7e53ee74de1eca1632815ee6463abef8ee5d3 100644
--- a/src/randomProcesses/noise/noiseModels/surfaceNoise/surfaceNoise.C
+++ b/src/randomProcesses/noise/noiseModels/surfaceNoise/surfaceNoise.C
@@ -427,7 +427,16 @@ bool surfaceNoise::read(const dictionary& dict)
 {
     if (noiseModel::read(dict))
     {
-        dict.lookup("inputFiles") >> inputFileNames_;
+        if (dict.found("inputFile"))
+        {
+            inputFileNames_.setSize(1);
+            dict.lookup("inputFile") >> inputFileNames_[0];
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            dict.lookup("inputFiles") >> inputFileNames_;
+        }
+
         dict.readIfPresent("fftWriteInterval", fftWriteInterval_);
         dict.readIfPresent("p", pName_);