diff --git a/src/utils/displayname-integration.test.ts b/src/utils/displayname-integration.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8dd72d8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/displayname-integration.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2025 New Vector Ltd.
+
+SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only OR LicenseRef-Element-Commercial
+Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
+*/
+
+import { afterEach, beforeAll, describe, expect, test, vi } from "vitest";
+
+import { shouldDisambiguate } from "./displayname";
+import { alice } from "./test-fixtures";
+import { mockMatrixRoom } from "./test";
+
+// Ideally these tests would be in ./displayname.test.ts but I can't figure out how to
+// just spy on the removeHiddenChars() function without impacting the other tests.
+// So, these tests are in this separate test file.
+vi.mock("matrix-js-sdk/src/utils");
+
+describe("shouldDisambiguate", () => {
+  // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/consistent-type-imports
+  let jsUtils: typeof import("matrix-js-sdk/src/utils");
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    jsUtils = await import("matrix-js-sdk/src/utils");
+    vi.spyOn(jsUtils, "removeHiddenChars").mockImplementation((str) => str);
+  });
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.clearAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  test("should only call removeHiddenChars once for a single displayname", () => {
+    const room = mockMatrixRoom({});
+    shouldDisambiguate(alice, [], room);
+    expect(jsUtils.removeHiddenChars).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
+      shouldDisambiguate(alice, [], room);
+    }
+    expect(jsUtils.removeHiddenChars).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/utils/displayname.ts b/src/utils/displayname.ts
index 32532506..0eac045d 100644
--- a/src/utils/displayname.ts
+++ b/src/utils/displayname.ts
@@ -7,12 +7,36 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
 
 import {
   removeDirectionOverrideChars,
-  removeHiddenChars,
+  removeHiddenChars as removeHiddenCharsUncached,
 } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/utils";
 
 import type { Room } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/matrix";
 import type { CallMembership } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/matrixrtc";
 
+// Calling removeHiddenChars() can be slow on Safari, so we cache the results.
+// To illustrate a simple benchmark:
+// Chrome: 10,000 calls took 2.599ms
+// Safari: 10,000 calls took 242ms
+// See: https://github.com/element-hq/element-call/issues/3065
+
+const removeHiddenCharsCache = new Map<string, string>();
+
+/**
+ * Calls removeHiddenCharsUncached and caches the result
+ */
+function removeHiddenChars(str: string): string {
+  if (removeHiddenCharsCache.has(str)) {
+    return removeHiddenCharsCache.get(str)!;
+  }
+  const result = removeHiddenCharsUncached(str);
+  // this is naive but should be good enough for our purposes
+  if (removeHiddenCharsCache.size > 500) {
+    removeHiddenCharsCache.clear();
+  }
+  removeHiddenCharsCache.set(str, result);
+  return result;
+}
+
 // Borrowed from https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-js-sdk/blob/f10deb5ef2e8f061ff005af0476034382ea128ca/src/models/room-member.ts#L409
 export function shouldDisambiguate(
   member: { rawDisplayName?: string; userId: string },