diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 8a45fd3d..5bea4225 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -30,3 +30,20 @@ jobs:
         env:
           MPLBACKEND: Agg
         run: uv run --python ${{ matrix.python-version }} --extra dev pytest
+
+  # Make sure the lower bounds of the direct dependencies are actually usable
+  test-minimum:
+    name: Minimum dependency versions
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 45
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v10.2.0
+      - name: Install Python 3.11
+        run: uv python install 3.11
+      - name: Install libsndfile
+        run: sudo apt-get install -y libsndfile1
+      - name: Run tests
+        env:
+          MPLBACKEND: Agg
+        run: uv run --python 3.11 --resolution lowest-direct --extra dev pytest
diff --git a/docs/changes.rst b/docs/changes.rst
index cf2f716f..c1003495 100644
--- a/docs/changes.rst
+++ b/docs/changes.rst
@@ -5,6 +5,15 @@ This page lists recent changes in the `wfdb` package (since version 4.0.0) that
 
 .. _development repository: https://github.com/MIT-LCP/wfdb-python
 
+Unreleased
+----------
+
+**Drop support for Python 3.9 and 3.10**
+  The minimum supported Python version is now 3.11. The package is now also tested with Python 3.14 and 3.15.
+
+**Raise minimum versions of dependencies**
+  The minimum versions of ``soundfile`` (0.12.1), ``matplotlib`` (3.8.0) and ``requests`` (2.31.0) have been raised. The minimum versions of the other dependencies are unchanged.
+
 Version 4.3.1 (Feb 2026)
 -----------------------------
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index bd5f10c7..43b24914 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -8,14 +8,14 @@ description = "The WFDB Python package: tools for reading, writing, and processi
 authors = [{name = "The Laboratory for Computational Physiology", email = "contact@physionet.org"}]
 license = {text = "MIT License"}
 readme = "README.md"
-requires-python = ">= 3.9"
+requires-python = ">= 3.11"
 dependencies = [
     "numpy >= 1.26.4",
     "scipy >= 1.13.0",
     "pandas >= 2.2.3",
-    "soundfile >= 0.10.0",
-    "matplotlib >= 3.2.2",
-    "requests >= 2.8.1",
+    "soundfile >= 0.12.1",
+    "matplotlib >= 3.8.0",
+    "requests >= 2.31.0",
     "fsspec >= 2023.10.0",
     "aiohttp >= 3.10.11",
 ]
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ dynamic = ["version"]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 dev = [
-    "pytest >= 7.1.1",
-    "pytest-xdist >= 2.5.0",
+    "pytest >= 8.0.0",
+    "pytest-xdist >= 3.5.0",
     "pylint >= 2.13.7",
     "black >= 22.3.0",
     "sphinx >= 7.0.0",
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ documentation = "https://wfdb.readthedocs.io/"
 
 [tool.black]
 line-length = 80
-target-version = ["py39"]
+target-version = ["py311"]
 
 [tool.hatch.build.targets.sdist]
 exclude = [