diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 444ce5e..ec595e3 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -27,11 +27,12 @@
     "build": "npm run clean && npm run compile && npm run add-package-jsons",
     "watch": "tsc --watch",
     "prepublishOnly": "npm run build",
-    "test:unit": "mocha --recursive --full-trace --exit --reporter json > test/reports/test-results.json",
+    "test:unit": "mocha --recursive --full-trace --exit",
+    "test:unit:report": "mocha --recursive --full-trace --exit --reporter json > test/reports/test-results.json",
     "pretest:integration:init": "npm run build",
     "test:integration:init": "sh ./test/scripts/initIntTests.sh",
     "test:integration": "npm run test:integration:init && cucumber-js --config ./test/config/cucumber.mjs",
-    "test": "npm run test:unit && npm run test:integration",
+    "test": "npm run test:unit:report && npm run test:integration",
     "coverage": "c8 mocha && c8 report --reporter=html && c8 report --reporter=json-summary",
     "lcov": "c8 mocha && c8 report --reporter=lcov",
     "lint": "eslint .",
diff --git a/src/consumer.ts b/src/consumer.ts
index b96a367..44f24d1 100644
--- a/src/consumer.ts
+++ b/src/consumer.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@ import {
   MessageSystemAttributeName,
 } from "@aws-sdk/client-sqs";
 
-import { ConsumerOptions, StopOptions, UpdatableOptions } from "./types.js";
+import type {
+  ConsumerOptions,
+  StopOptions,
+  UpdatableOptions,
+} from "./types.js";
 import { TypedEventEmitter } from "./emitter.js";
 import {
   SQSError,
@@ -51,7 +55,10 @@ export class Consumer extends TypedEventEmitter {
   private alwaysAcknowledge: boolean;
   private batchSize: number;
   private visibilityTimeout: number;
-  private terminateVisibilityTimeout: boolean | number;
+  private terminateVisibilityTimeout:
+    | boolean
+    | number
+    | ((message: Message[]) => number);
   private waitTimeSeconds: number;
   private authenticationErrorTimeout: number;
   private pollingWaitTimeMs: number;
@@ -363,11 +370,16 @@ export class Consumer extends TypedEventEmitter {
       this.emitError(err, message);
 
       if (this.terminateVisibilityTimeout !== false) {
-        const timeout =
-          this.terminateVisibilityTimeout === true
-            ? 0
-            : this.terminateVisibilityTimeout;
-        await this.changeVisibilityTimeout(message, timeout);
+        if (typeof this.terminateVisibilityTimeout === "function") {
+          const timeout = this.terminateVisibilityTimeout([message]);
+          await this.changeVisibilityTimeout(message, timeout);
+        } else {
+          const timeout =
+            this.terminateVisibilityTimeout === true
+              ? 0
+              : this.terminateVisibilityTimeout;
+          await this.changeVisibilityTimeout(message, timeout);
+        }
       }
     } finally {
       if (this.heartbeatInterval) {
@@ -405,11 +417,16 @@ export class Consumer extends TypedEventEmitter {
       this.emit("error", err, messages);
 
       if (this.terminateVisibilityTimeout !== false) {
-        const timeout =
-          this.terminateVisibilityTimeout === true
-            ? 0
-            : this.terminateVisibilityTimeout;
-        await this.changeVisibilityTimeoutBatch(messages, timeout);
+        if (typeof this.terminateVisibilityTimeout === "function") {
+          const timeout = this.terminateVisibilityTimeout(messages);
+          await this.changeVisibilityTimeoutBatch(messages, timeout);
+        } else {
+          const timeout =
+            this.terminateVisibilityTimeout === true
+              ? 0
+              : this.terminateVisibilityTimeout;
+          await this.changeVisibilityTimeoutBatch(messages, timeout);
+        }
       }
     } finally {
       clearInterval(heartbeatTimeoutId);
@@ -430,9 +447,9 @@ export class Consumer extends TypedEventEmitter {
           messages,
           this.visibilityTimeout,
         );
-      } else {
-        return this.changeVisibilityTimeout(message, this.visibilityTimeout);
       }
+
+      return this.changeVisibilityTimeout(message, this.visibilityTimeout);
     }, this.heartbeatInterval * 1000);
   }
 
@@ -511,7 +528,7 @@ export class Consumer extends TypedEventEmitter {
     let handleMessageTimeoutId: NodeJS.Timeout | undefined = undefined;
 
     try {
-      let result;
+      let result: Message | void;
 
       if (this.handleMessageTimeout) {
         const pending: Promise<void> = new Promise((_, reject): void => {
@@ -533,7 +550,8 @@ export class Consumer extends TypedEventEmitter {
           err,
           `Message handler timed out after ${this.handleMessageTimeout}ms: Operation timed out.`,
         );
-      } else if (err instanceof Error) {
+      }
+      if (err instanceof Error) {
         throw toStandardError(
           err,
           `Unexpected message handler failure: ${err.message}`,
diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index a1ed7aa..839809e 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -68,9 +68,14 @@ export interface ConsumerOptions {
   /**
    * If true, sets the message visibility timeout to 0 after a `processing_error`. You can
    * also specify a different timeout using a number.
+   * If you would like to use exponential backoff, you can pass a function that returns
+   * a number and it will use that as the value for the timeout.
    * @defaultvalue `false`
    */
-  terminateVisibilityTimeout?: boolean | number;
+  terminateVisibilityTimeout?:
+    | boolean
+    | number
+    | ((messages: Message[]) => number);
   /**
    * The interval (in seconds) between requests to extend the message visibility timeout.
    *
diff --git a/test/tests/consumer.test.ts b/test/tests/consumer.test.ts
index 871bcfa..974277c 100644
--- a/test/tests/consumer.test.ts
+++ b/test/tests/consumer.test.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import {
   ReceiveMessageCommand,
   SQSClient,
   QueueAttributeName,
+  Message,
 } from "@aws-sdk/client-sqs";
 import { assert } from "chai";
 import * as sinon from "sinon";
@@ -1008,7 +1009,7 @@ describe("Consumer", () => {
       consumer.stop();
     });
 
-    it("terminate message visibility timeout on processing error", async () => {
+    it("terminates message visibility timeout on processing error", async () => {
       handleMessage.rejects(new Error("Processing error"));
 
       consumer.terminateVisibilityTimeout = true;
@@ -1031,6 +1032,54 @@ describe("Consumer", () => {
       );
     });
 
+    it("terminates message visibility timeout with a function to calculate timeout on processing error", async () => {
+      const messageWithAttr = {
+        ReceiptHandle: "receipt-handle",
+        MessageId: "1",
+        Body: "body-2",
+        Attributes: {
+          ApproximateReceiveCount: 2,
+        },
+      };
+      sqs.send.withArgs(mockReceiveMessage).resolves({
+        Messages: [messageWithAttr],
+      });
+
+      consumer = new Consumer({
+        queueUrl: QUEUE_URL,
+        messageSystemAttributeNames: ["ApproximateReceiveCount"],
+        region: REGION,
+        handleMessage,
+        sqs,
+        terminateVisibilityTimeout: (messages: Message[]) => {
+          const receiveCount =
+            Number.parseInt(
+              messages[0].Attributes?.ApproximateReceiveCount || "1",
+            ) || 1;
+          return receiveCount * 10;
+        },
+      });
+
+      handleMessage.rejects(new Error("Processing error"));
+
+      consumer.start();
+      await pEvent(consumer, "processing_error");
+      consumer.stop();
+
+      sandbox.assert.calledWith(
+        sqs.send.secondCall,
+        mockChangeMessageVisibility,
+      );
+      sandbox.assert.match(
+        sqs.send.secondCall.args[0].input,
+        sinon.match({
+          QueueUrl: QUEUE_URL,
+          ReceiptHandle: "receipt-handle",
+          VisibilityTimeout: 20,
+        }),
+      );
+    });
+
     it("changes message visibility timeout on processing error", async () => {
       handleMessage.rejects(new Error("Processing error"));