diff --git a/playwright/audio-menu.spec.ts b/playwright/audio-menu.spec.ts
index c72673255..99385c890 100644
--- a/playwright/audio-menu.spec.ts
+++ b/playwright/audio-menu.spec.ts
@@ -18,11 +18,9 @@ test.describe("the quick audio menu", () => {
     await joinACall(page, "Menu user", "Audio menu");
     await openAudioMenu(page);
 
-    // The speaker list is what the settings modal used to be the only home of.
     await expect(page.getByRole("group", { name: "Speaker" })).toBeVisible();
     await expect(page.getByRole("group", { name: "Microphone" })).toBeVisible();
-    // Named rather than counted: the browser contributes its own fake output
-    // and a "Default" entry, so a total would be a fact about the browser.
+    // By name, not count: the browser adds its own fake output and a Default.
     for (const n of [1, 2, 3])
       await expect(
         page
@@ -30,8 +28,6 @@ test.describe("the quick audio menu", () => {
           .getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: `Fake Speaker ${n}` }),
       ).toBeVisible();
 
-    // Only one entry of a kind is marked, and the meter reports a number
-    // rather than a colour.
     await expect(
       page.getByRole("menuitemradio", { checked: true }),
     ).toHaveCount(2);
@@ -40,10 +36,7 @@ test.describe("the quick audio menu", () => {
     await expect(meter).toHaveAttribute("aria-valuenow", /\d+/);
     await expect(meter).toHaveAttribute("aria-valuetext", /\d+ of \d+/);
 
-    // Both browsers in the matrix can route audio to a chosen output, so the
-    // section offers a real choice. The case where a platform cannot — Safari,
-    // and anything without setSinkId — is covered by a unit check, since no
-    // browser here can reach it.
+    // Both browsers here can route audio; the platform that can't is a unit check.
     await expect(
       page
         .getByRole("group", { name: "Speaker" })
@@ -55,7 +48,7 @@ test.describe("the quick audio menu", () => {
   test("moves the microphone and the speaker without disturbing the call", async ({
     browser,
   }) => {
-    // Two browsers, two joins and a real call between them.
+    // Two browsers and a real call.
     test.slow();
     const hostContext = await browser.newContext({ reducedMotion: "reduce" });
     const host = await hostContext.newPage();
@@ -73,9 +66,7 @@ test.describe("the quick audio menu", () => {
     await openAudioMenu(host);
     await selectDevice(host, "Speaker", "Fake Speaker 2");
 
-    // The point of the criterion: the switch is not a rejoin. Neither side
-    // sees the call drop, and the guest still has both tiles — so the host
-    // never left and came back.
+    // Not a rejoin: neither side drops, and the guest still has both tiles.
     await expect(
       host.getByRole("dialog", { name: "Reconnecting…" }),
     ).not.toBeVisible();
@@ -92,7 +83,7 @@ test.describe("the quick audio menu", () => {
   test("keeps the meter moving while muted, and sends nothing", async ({
     browser,
   }) => {
-    // Two browsers, two joins and a real call between them.
+    // Two browsers and a real call.
     test.slow();
     const hostContext = await browser.newContext({ reducedMotion: "reduce" });
     const host = await hostContext.newPage();
@@ -110,15 +101,12 @@ test.describe("the quick audio menu", () => {
     await expect(mute).toHaveAttribute("aria-checked", "false");
     await openAudioMenu(host);
 
-    // The microphone is held open while muted, so the meter still reports the
-    // hardware. The mute control is what says nothing is being transmitted.
     const meter = host.getByRole("meter", { name: "Microphone level" });
     await expect(meter).toBeVisible();
-    // Queried by test id, not by role: the menu is modal, so Radix takes the
-    // rest of the call out of the accessibility tree while it is open.
+    // By test id: the modal menu hides the rest of the call from the a11y tree.
     await expect(mute).toHaveAttribute("aria-checked", "false");
     await expect(mute).toBeVisible();
-    // And the listener is told so, rather than being left to guess from silence.
+    // And the guest is shown the mute.
     await expect(
       guest.getByTestId("videoTile").filter({ hasText: "Muted host" }),
     ).toBeVisible();
@@ -137,9 +125,8 @@ test.describe("the quick audio menu", () => {
     const meter = page.getByRole("meter", { name: "Microphone level" });
     await expect(meter).toBeVisible();
 
-    // Scrolled so the microphones start at the top of the list and run past its
-    // bottom: the position that tells a pinned meter from one that merely
-    // happens to be last.
+    // Scrolled so the microphones start at the top: only there does a pinned
+    // meter differ from one that is simply last.
     const list = page.locator("[role='menu'] div[role='none']").first();
     await list.evaluate((element) => {
       const group = element.querySelector("[role='group'][aria-label*='icro']");
@@ -150,7 +137,6 @@ test.describe("the quick audio menu", () => {
 
     await expect(meter).toBeInViewport();
     await expectPinnedInside(meter, list);
-    // Every entry stays reachable, which is what the scroll is for.
     await expect(
       page.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Fake Microphone 20" }),
     ).toBeVisible();
@@ -169,16 +155,14 @@ test.describe("the quick audio menu", () => {
     await openAudioMenu(page);
 
     const first = page.getByRole("menuitemradio").first();
-    // Opened by pointer, so no ring, even though Radix has moved focus into the
-    // menu already.
+    // Opened by pointer: no ring, though Radix has moved focus into the menu.
     await expect.poll(async () => outlineWidth(first)).toBe(0);
 
     await page.keyboard.press("ArrowDown");
     const focused = page.locator("[role='menuitemradio']:focus");
     await expect.poll(async () => outlineWidth(focused)).toBeGreaterThan(0);
 
-    // The pointer takes it away again: the menu focuses whatever it is over, so
-    // a ring that followed focus alone would trail the mouse.
+    // And the pointer takes it away again.
     await first.hover();
     await expect.poll(async () => outlineWidth(focused)).toBe(0);
   });
@@ -193,8 +177,7 @@ async function joinACall(
   await page.goto("/");
   await SpaHelpers.createCall(page, userName, callName, true);
   await expect(page.getByTestId("name_tag")).toContainText(userName);
-  // The media controls stay disabled until the devices have enumerated, and
-  // every test here drives them.
+  // The media controls stay disabled until devices have enumerated.
   await expect(page.getByTestId("incall_mute")).toBeEnabled({
     timeout: 10_000,
   });
@@ -214,19 +197,12 @@ async function selectDevice(
     .getByRole("group", { name: section })
     .getByRole("menuitemradio", { name });
   await item.click();
-  // Selecting does not close the menu — the component prevents the default so
-  // the list survives a mis-click — so it is dismissed explicitly.
+  // Selecting doesn't close the menu, so dismiss it.
   await page.keyboard.press("Escape");
   await expect(page.getByRole("menu")).not.toBeVisible();
 }
 
-/**
- * Asserts the meter sits within the scrollport, and inside the menu's frame.
- *
- * The meter is the one opaque element in the menu, so it is the one thing that
- * can paint over the border. Whether it actually does needs a screenshot; this
- * pins the geometry that decides it.
- */
+/** Asserts the meter sits within the scrollport and inside the menu's frame. */
 async function expectPinnedInside(
   meter: Locator,
   list: Locator,
@@ -243,7 +219,7 @@ async function expectPinnedInside(
   expect(meterBox.x + meterBox.width).toBeLessThan(frame.x + frame.width);
 }
 
-/** The painted outline width in pixels, however the stylesheet spells it. */
+/** Painted outline width, in px. */
 async function outlineWidth(item: Locator): Promise<number> {
   if ((await item.count()) === 0) return 0;
   return item.first().evaluate((element) => {
diff --git a/playwright/component/audio-menu.spec.ts b/playwright/component/audio-menu.spec.ts
index f13c99fb7..f4d811598 100644
--- a/playwright/component/audio-menu.spec.ts
+++ b/playwright/component/audio-menu.spec.ts
@@ -11,22 +11,12 @@ import { createUserAndRoom, resizeContainer, startHarness } from "./harness.ts";
 import { installFakeDevices } from "../utils/fake-devices.ts";
 
 /**
- * The device menu where Element Call is a component in a host's page rather
- * than the whole of one.
- *
- * This is the case the stylesheets cannot describe: the menu is portalled to
- * the document, so a container query and a viewport unit both measure the wrong
- * thing — the first has no container to resolve against out there, the second
- * measures a page Element Call does not own. The menu has to be sized against
- * the space the call is actually drawn in.
- *
- * Driven from the lobby rather than a joined call. The footer builds the same
- * menu from the same device behaviours in both, and the container is the same
- * size either way, so joining would only add two connections' worth of flake.
+ * The device menu with Element Call as a component in a host page, where the
+ * portalled menu must be sized against the call, not the window. Driven from
+ * the lobby: it builds the same menu, without two connections' worth of flake.
  */
 
-// Signing in, setting up crypto and syncing happen twice before anything is on
-// screen, as in component-call.spec.ts
+// Sign-in, crypto setup and sync happen twice before anything shows.
 test.describe.configure({ timeout: 180_000 });
 
 test("sizes the device list against the call, not the window", async ({
@@ -37,8 +27,7 @@ test("sizes the device list against the call, not the window", async ({
   const panes = await startHarness(page, username, roomId);
   const pane = panes.first();
 
-  // A short call in a much taller page: the difference between measuring the
-  // call and measuring the window.
+  // A short call in a much taller page.
   const container = pane.getByTestId("call-container");
   await resizeContainer(container, { width: 900, height: 400 });
   await expect(pane.getByTestId("lobby_joinCall")).toBeVisible({
@@ -50,8 +39,6 @@ test("sizes the device list against the call, not the window", async ({
   const windowHeight = page.viewportSize()!.height;
   const listHeight = (await list.boundingBox())!.height;
 
-  // Sized against the call. Were it sized against the window the list would be
-  // half as tall again, and the assertion below would not be able to tell.
   expect(callHeight).toBeLessThan(windowHeight * 0.75);
   expect(listHeight).toBeLessThanOrEqual(callHeight);
   expect(listHeight).toBeLessThan(windowHeight * 0.6);
@@ -72,9 +59,7 @@ test("follows the call area when the host resizes it", async ({ page }) => {
   const list = await openDeviceList(page, pane);
   const whenShort = (await list.boundingBox())!.height;
 
-  // The host grows the space Element Call is drawn in while the menu is open —
-  // a panel opening, a window dragged, a phone turned. A bound taken once on
-  // opening would still describe the smaller call.
+  // The host grows the call while the menu is open.
   await resizeContainer(container, { width: 900, height: 700 });
   await expect
     .poll(async () => (await list.boundingBox())!.height)
@@ -88,15 +73,13 @@ test("keeps every device reachable in a small container", async ({ page }) => {
   const pane = panes.first();
 
   const container = pane.getByTestId("call-container");
-  // Narrow as well as short, which is where entries get pushed out of reach.
   await resizeContainer(container, { width: 400, height: 360 });
   await expect(pane.getByTestId("lobby_joinCall")).toBeVisible({
     timeout: 60_000,
   });
 
   const list = await openDeviceList(page, pane);
-  // More devices than the space allows, so the list has to scroll rather than
-  // put entries somewhere they cannot be got at.
+  // More devices than fit, so the list must scroll.
   expect(await list.evaluate((el) => el.scrollHeight > el.clientHeight)).toBe(
     true,
   );
@@ -104,9 +87,7 @@ test("keeps every device reachable in a small container", async ({ page }) => {
   const last = page.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Fake Microphone 20" });
   await last.scrollIntoViewIfNeeded();
   await expect(last).toBeInViewport();
-  // Reachable means usable, not merely painted: D11 accepts that the menu may
-  // be drawn outside the call area, so this asserts reach rather than
-  // containment.
+  // Reachable means clickable: the menu may be drawn outside the call area.
   await last.click();
   await expect(last).toHaveAttribute("aria-checked", "true");
 });
@@ -124,20 +105,13 @@ test("tracks the focus source of its own call, not the page", async ({
     timeout: 60_000,
   });
   await openDeviceList(page, pane);
-  // The menu owns the focus source, because every item it can focus has to answer
-  // to it — the device rows and the camera menu's blur toggle alike.
   const menu = page.getByRole("menu");
 
-  // Asserted on the attribute rather than the painted ring, which cannot be
-  // read here: the menu is portalled outside the call root, and the component
-  // build scopes the stylesheet to it, so neither the ring nor the rule that
-  // suppresses the browser's own reaches this menu. The paint is asserted
-  // standalone instead — in the story and in audio-menu.spec.ts. What is on
-  // trial here is which call the tracking answers for.
+  // Asserted on the attribute: the component build's scoped stylesheet doesn't
+  // reach the portalled menu, so its ring can't be read here.
   await expect(menu).toHaveAttribute("data-focus-source", "pointer");
 
-  // A key pressed in the other call on this page — or anywhere in the host's
-  // own page — says nothing about how this menu is being used.
+  // A key pressed in the other call says nothing about this menu.
   await other.evaluate((element) =>
     element.dispatchEvent(
       new KeyboardEvent("keydown", { key: "ArrowDown", bubbles: true }),
@@ -145,15 +119,11 @@ test("tracks the focus source of its own call, not the page", async ({
   );
   await expect(menu).toHaveAttribute("data-focus-source", "pointer");
 
-  // A key pressed in this menu does.
   await page.keyboard.press("ArrowDown");
   await expect(menu).toHaveAttribute("data-focus-source", "keyboard");
 });
 
-/**
- * Opens the microphone menu of one component and returns its scrolling device
- * list, which lives outside the component: the menu is portalled to the page.
- */
+/** Opens a component's microphone menu and returns its device list. */
 async function openDeviceList(page: Page, pane: Locator): Promise<Locator> {
   await pane
     .getByRole("button", { name: "Microphone" })
diff --git a/playwright/utils/fake-devices.ts b/playwright/utils/fake-devices.ts
index c152955b0..e67f053bd 100644
--- a/playwright/utils/fake-devices.ts
+++ b/playwright/utils/fake-devices.ts
@@ -8,20 +8,10 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
 import { type Page } from "@playwright/test";
 
 /**
- * Gives the browser more fake devices than it ships with.
- *
- * A headless browser's fake capture offers one microphone and one speaker,
- * which is one short of what a device menu is for: with no choice to make, every
- * entry renders disabled. These are synthetic entries on top of the real fake
- * device, so the menu has a list to show and a selection to move, and the app
- * runs its real device pipeline against them.
- *
- * What they do not do is route audio: every entry is backed by the same capture,
- * and `setSinkId` is accepted rather than honoured. A test can prove that
- * choosing a device changes the app's state and does not disturb the call. That
- * a listener hears the change needs hardware, and stays a manual check.
- *
- * Must be called before the page navigates.
+ * Adds synthetic devices beside the browser's one fake microphone and speaker,
+ * so the menu has a choice to show. They share one capture and `setSinkId` is
+ * accepted but not honoured: routing still needs hardware and a manual check.
+ * Call before the page navigates.
  */
 export async function installFakeDevices(
   page: Page,
@@ -58,8 +48,7 @@ export async function installFakeDevices(
         ...synthetic("audiooutput", speakers, "Fake Speaker"),
       ];
 
-      // Our ids name no hardware, so an exact-device constraint on one would be
-      // rejected. Drop it and let the one real fake device answer.
+      // Our ids name no hardware, so drop the exact-device constraint.
       const getUserMedia = devices.getUserMedia.bind(devices);
       devices.getUserMedia = async (
         constraints?: MediaStreamConstraints,
@@ -77,10 +66,8 @@ export async function installFakeDevices(
         return getUserMedia(constraints);
       };
 
-      // Routing to a device that does not exist would reject, and the app
-      // treats that as a failed switch. Both sinks are patched: Element Call
-      // routes its own AudioContext as well as the media elements, and leaving
-      // that one alone logs a NotFoundError for every switch.
+      // Accept routing to our ids on both media elements and the AudioContext,
+      // which the app also routes.
       for (const proto of [
         HTMLMediaElement.prototype,
         AudioContext.prototype,
diff --git a/src/components/CallFooter.stories.tsx b/src/components/CallFooter.stories.tsx
index b99bfa132..96e010d85 100644
--- a/src/components/CallFooter.stories.tsx
+++ b/src/components/CallFooter.stories.tsx
@@ -180,8 +180,7 @@ export const StaysWhileAMenuIsOpen: Story = {
   ...Default,
   args: {
     ...WithAudioAndVideoOptions.args,
-    // As it is in a short window, where the footer overlays the call and hides
-    // itself once nothing is happening.
+    // In a short window the footer overlays the call and hides itself.
     asOverlay: true,
     showFooter: true,
   },
@@ -194,18 +193,10 @@ export const StaysWhileAMenuIsOpen: Story = {
     );
     await expect(document.body.querySelector('[role="menu"]')).not.toBeNull();
 
-    // The call now decides to hide the footer, which is the class it does it
-    // with. The menu is portalled out of the footer, so the focus inside it is
-    // not something the footer can see: without the trigger's aria-expanded to
-    // go on, this would fade the footer out and take the menu's anchor with it.
-    // The call now decides to hide the footer, which is the class it does that
-    // with. The menu is portalled out of the footer, so the focus inside it is
-    // not something the footer can see: without the trigger's aria-expanded to
-    // go on, this fades the footer out and takes the menu's anchor with it.
+    // The call hides the footer with this class.
     footer.classList.add(styles.hidden);
 
-    // The footer fades over 0.15s, so a reading taken now is the value it
-    // started from whatever happens next. Let the transition finish first.
+    // Read after the 0.15s fade, not mid-transition.
     await new Promise((settled) => setTimeout(settled, 400));
     await expect(getComputedStyle(footer).opacity).toBe("1");
   },
diff --git a/src/components/CallFooter.tsx b/src/components/CallFooter.tsx
index 45d346bab..6fdf13dda 100644
--- a/src/components/CallFooter.tsx
+++ b/src/components/CallFooter.tsx
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ export interface FooterState {
 
   /** Providing no options `[]` or `undefined` will imply that we dont have a audio fast switcher */
   audioOptions: MenuOptions[];
-  /** Output devices shown as their own section in the audio menu. */
+  /** Output (speaker) devices. */
   audioOutputOptions: MenuOptions[];
   /** Providing no options `[]` or `undefined` will imply that we dont have a audio fast switcher */
   videoOptions: MenuOptions[];
diff --git a/src/components/CallFooterViewModel.test.ts b/src/components/CallFooterViewModel.test.ts
index df23cba22..0c02a2ba7 100644
--- a/src/components/CallFooterViewModel.test.ts
+++ b/src/components/CallFooterViewModel.test.ts
@@ -116,7 +116,6 @@ describe("createCallFooterViewModel", () => {
 
     it("is withheld where the platform cannot route audio to a chosen device", () => {
       outputSelectionMock.mockReturnValue(false);
-      // Undefined is what renders the speaker section disabled.
       expect(buildFooterVm().selectAudioOutputOption$.value).toBeUndefined();
     });
 
@@ -145,9 +144,7 @@ describe("createCallFooterViewModel", () => {
             selected$: constant(undefined),
             select: vi.fn(),
           },
-          // Safari enumerates no output devices whatsoever. Reproduced by the
-          // condition rather than by the browser, so it is checked on the
-          // Linux CI runners that have no Safari to check it with.
+          // As Safari: no outputs listed.
           audioOutput: {
             available$: constant(new Map<string, DeviceLabel>()),
             selected$: constant(undefined),
@@ -158,10 +155,7 @@ describe("createCallFooterViewModel", () => {
         { showControls: true, header: HeaderStyle.Standard },
       );
 
-      // Empty rather than undefined: undefined means this menu has no notion
-      // of outputs at all, as the camera menu has none, and hides the section.
-      // Empty means there are none to list, and the menu still shows the
-      // section with a default in it, disabled.
+      // Empty, not undefined: undefined would hide the section.
       expect(vm.audioOutputOptions$.value).toEqual([]);
     });
   });
diff --git a/src/components/CallFooterViewModel.tsx b/src/components/CallFooterViewModel.tsx
index 305b2a434..50efb42f9 100644
--- a/src/components/CallFooterViewModel.tsx
+++ b/src/components/CallFooterViewModel.tsx
@@ -104,8 +104,8 @@ function buildDeviceBehaviors(
     selectedAudioOutput$: scope.behavior(
       mediaDevices.audioOutput.selected$.pipe(map((s) => s?.id)),
     ),
-    // Safari and most Firefox builds cannot route audio to a chosen device at
-    // all. Withholding the callback is what renders the section disabled.
+    // Withheld where the platform can't route audio to a chosen device, which
+    // disables the speaker section.
     selectAudioOutputOption$: constant(
       supportsAudioOutputSelection()
         ? mediaDevices.audioOutput.select
diff --git a/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.module.css b/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.module.css
index 053dd1a93..1d5242689 100644
--- a/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.module.css
+++ b/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.module.css
@@ -41,55 +41,29 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
   flex-direction: column;
 }
 
-/* Only the device lists scroll; the level meter stays put beneath them.
-   The bound comes from the measured height of the call area, set by the
-   component: the menu is portalled outside the root, so neither a container
-   query nor a viewport unit describes the space it is allowed to fill. */
+/* Only the device lists scroll, bounded by the measured call area: the menu is
+   portalled out of the root, so CSS can't size it against the call. */
 .deviceList {
   overflow-y: auto;
   min-block-size: 0;
   max-block-size: var(--device-list-max-height);
-  /* The heading stands over the head of this list and the level meter over its
-     foot. Scrolling a row flush to either edge would put it underneath one of
-     them, which is how a row reached by the keyboard ends up half-readable;
-     this keeps both their heights clear for anything the browser scrolls to.
-     Set by the component, which is the only thing that can measure them. */
+  /* Keeps a row reached by keyboard clear of the sticky heading and meter. */
   scroll-padding-block: var(--device-list-scroll-padding-start, 0)
     var(--device-list-scroll-padding-end, 0);
 }
 
-/* Each section is headed by its own rule, which Compound draws under a menu
-   heading already. The heading spans the whole menu — the menu has no padding
-   of its own — so that rule runs edge to edge, stopping only where the frame
-   is, rather than inset as a separator between the sections would be.
-
-   Compound's spacing around it is the design's too, bar one thing: the design
-   leaves a section's first device further below the rule than Compound does —
-   measured off the mock, 27px from the rule to the top of the control, against
-   the 16px that Compound's 8px margin and the row's own 8px padding give. The
-   difference goes below the rule, so the rule stays tight under its own text
-   where Compound put it. */
+/* Compound's heading rule heads each section; the design adds space below it. */
 .menu h3 {
   margin-block-end: var(--cpd-space-5x);
 }
 
-/* One section is set much further from the one above it than Compound's 8px
-   heading margin allows: measured off the mock, 41px from the last device's
-   control to the next heading's text, against the 22px we had. Only between
-   sections — the first heading keeps Compound's spacing, because the menu's
-   own padding is already above it. */
+/* And more above a heading that follows another section. */
 .deviceList [role="group"] + [role="group"] h3 {
   margin-block-start: var(--cpd-space-7x);
 }
 
-/* Each section's heading stays at the top of the scrollport while any of that
-   section is still in view, so a long list never leaves you wondering which
-   kind of device you are looking at. It leaves with its own section, because
-   sticky only holds while the group it belongs to is in view.
-
-   Opaque, and held a border width clear of the sides, for the same reason as
-   the meter below: this is a positioned element, so it paints above the
-   outline the menu draws its frame with, and would swallow it. */
+/* Sticky within its own section. Opaque and inset a border width so it doesn't
+   paint over the menu's outline. */
 .sectionHeading {
   position: sticky;
   inset-block-start: 0;
@@ -98,39 +72,22 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
   margin-block-start: var(--cpd-border-width-1);
 }
 
-/* The meter belongs to the microphone section: it stays at the bottom of the
-   scrollport while that section is in view, and leaves with it when the list
-   is scrolled up to the speakers. The wrapper is deliberately unpositioned —
-   a positioned one paints above the menu's outline and swallows the frame
-   along this whole section. Sticky is resolved against the scroll container,
-   so it does not need one. */
-
+/* Sticky at the foot of the microphone section; opaque and inset as above. */
 .stickyMeter {
   position: sticky;
   inset-block-end: 0;
-  /* Opaque, so the list does not show through it as it scrolls past. The menu
-     draws its frame as an outline inset by one border width, and the device
-     rows are transparent at rest, so this is the only thing that can cover it:
-     hold it clear on the sides and the bottom. */
   background: var(--cpd-color-bg-canvas-default);
   margin-inline: var(--cpd-border-width-1);
   margin-block-end: var(--cpd-border-width-1);
 }
 
-/* Radix focuses whatever the pointer is over, so the browser's own ring marks
-   the item under the mouse. It cannot distinguish the two modalities here, so
-   it is suppressed and replaced by one that can.
-
-   Every kind of item the menu can focus, not only the device rows: the camera
-   menu's blur toggle is a checkbox item and a child of the menu rather than of
-   the list, and left out it kept the browser's own ring and followed the
-   pointer with it. */
+/* Radix focuses whatever the pointer is over, so the browser's ring would
+   follow the mouse. Replaced by one shown only for keyboard focus. */
 .menu [role^="menuitem"]:focus,
 .menu [role^="menuitem"]:focus-visible {
   outline: none;
 }
 
-/* Shown only when the keyboard is what moved the focus. */
 .menu[data-focus-source="keyboard"] [role^="menuitem"]:focus {
   outline: var(--cpd-border-width-2) solid var(--cpd-color-border-focused);
   outline-offset: calc(-1 * var(--cpd-border-width-2));
diff --git a/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.stories.tsx b/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.stories.tsx
index fb9aa376b..d4965892f 100644
--- a/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.stories.tsx
+++ b/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.stories.tsx
@@ -21,24 +21,14 @@ const mediaDevices = new MediaDevices(globalScope, {
   controlledAudioDevices: false,
 });
 
-/**
- * Gives these stories a microphone to read.
- *
- * The menu opens a capture of whichever device it has been told is selected,
- * and the devices in a story are invented: asking for one by an id no hardware
- * answers to fails, and the meter reports that — correctly — as there being no
- * microphone. So the story provides one rather than borrowing the machine's: a
- * wavering tone played into a real MediaStream, which the meter then runs its
- * own analyser over. Nothing here stands in for the meter itself.
- */
+/** Supplies a microphone, a wavering tone: a story's invented device ids match no hardware. */
 const WithAMicrophone: FC<{ children: ReactNode }> = ({ children }) => {
   useEffect(() => {
     const context = new AudioContext();
     const microphone = context.createMediaStreamDestination();
     const tone = context.createOscillator();
     const loudness = context.createGain();
-    // Swinging between about a third and two thirds of the range, so the meter
-    // reads as something live rather than as a level someone pinned there.
+    // Wavers between a third and two thirds of full scale, so it reads as live.
     const swing = context.createOscillator();
     const depth = context.createGain();
     loudness.gain.value = 0.25;
@@ -53,8 +43,7 @@ const WithAMicrophone: FC<{ children: ReactNode }> = ({ children }) => {
     const devices = navigator.mediaDevices;
     const openedForReal = devices.getUserMedia.bind(devices);
     const opened = Promise.resolve(microphone.stream);
-    // A fresh clone each time, so that a caller stopping its tracks when it is
-    // done does not take the microphone away from the next one.
+    // A fresh clone each time, so a caller stopping its tracks doesn't end the next.
     devices.getUserMedia = async (): Promise<MediaStream> =>
       (await opened).clone();
 
@@ -69,26 +58,14 @@ const WithAMicrophone: FC<{ children: ReactNode }> = ({ children }) => {
   return <>{children}</>;
 };
 
-/**
- * Gives these stories the call area the menu belongs to.
- *
- * The menu sizes its device list against the space Element Call is drawn in,
- * and takes that from a provider. Without one it falls back to the document
- * body — which in a story is the whole of Storybook's frame, so the list is
- * bounded by something far larger than the story it is drawn in and runs off
- * the top of the canvas. Supplying a root is the same courtesy as supplying the
- * devices: the story stands in for the call, so it has to say how big it is.
- */
+/** Supplies a call-sized root. Without one the list is bounded by the whole Storybook frame. */
 const WithACallArea: FC<{ children: ReactNode }> = ({ children }) => {
   const [callArea, setCallArea] = useState<HTMLElement | null>(null);
   return (
     <div
       ref={setCallArea}
       style={{
-        // The size of a call, not of a thumbnail: the device list is bounded to
-        // a share of this, so a small area makes even a two-device menu scroll,
-        // which no real call does. Tall enough to leave the menu room to open
-        // upward and still be wholly on screen in the story's frame.
+        // A call's size: anything smaller makes a short device list scroll.
         blockSize: 720,
         display: "flex",
         alignItems: "flex-end",
@@ -129,10 +106,7 @@ export const Default: Story = {
       { label: { type: "name", name: "Option 2" }, id: "2" },
     ],
     selectedOption: "1",
-    // The audio menu always has a speaker section: the footer hands it an
-    // output list whenever it draws the chevron at all, so a microphone menu
-    // with no speakers in it is a shape nothing in the app produces. Set here
-    // rather than in each story, since the others build on these.
+    // The footer always passes an output list to the audio menu.
     outputOptions: [
       { label: { type: "default", name: "Built-in Output" }, id: "default" },
       { label: { type: "name", name: "Headset" }, id: "spk2" },
@@ -234,16 +208,13 @@ export const SpeakerAndMicrophoneSections: Story = {
     await userEvent.click(headset);
     await expect(args.onSelectOutput).toHaveBeenCalledWith("spk2");
 
-    // A handful of devices fits: only a list longer than the space it is given
-    // scrolls, and a menu that scrolled at four devices would be bounded by
-    // something far smaller than the call it is drawn in.
+    // A few devices fit, so the list doesn't scroll.
     const list = document.body.querySelector<HTMLElement>(
       `.${styles.deviceList}`,
     )!;
     await expect(list.scrollHeight).toBe(list.clientHeight);
 
-    // Each section is headed by its own rule, running the full width of the
-    // menu rather than inset — and nothing divides the sections besides.
+    // Each section is headed by its own edge-to-edge rule, with no separator.
     const menu = document.body.querySelector("[role='menu']")!;
     await expect(
       document.body.querySelectorAll("[role='separator']"),
@@ -258,16 +229,14 @@ export const SpeakerAndMicrophoneSections: Story = {
       await expect(
         Number.parseFloat(getComputedStyle(rule).borderBottomWidth),
       ).toBeGreaterThan(0);
-      // Edge to edge, stopping only where the menu's frame is drawn.
+      // Edge to edge, within the frame.
       const box = rule.getBoundingClientRect();
       await expect(box.left - frame.left).toBeLessThanOrEqual(2);
       await expect(frame.right - box.right).toBeLessThanOrEqual(2);
     }
 
-    // A section's first device sits further below the rule than it does from
-    // the menu's edge. Stated as the relationship rather than a number: what
-    // the design asks for is the asymmetry, and Compound's own heading margin
-    // alone would make the two equal.
+    // The first device sits further below the rule than from the menu's edge.
+    // Asserted as a relationship, not pixels: the asymmetry is the design.
     const control = document.body.querySelector("input[type='radio']")!;
     const ruleBottom = headings[0]
       .querySelector("h3")!
@@ -275,8 +244,8 @@ export const SpeakerAndMicrophoneSections: Story = {
     const box = control.getBoundingClientRect();
     await expect(box.top - ruleBottom).toBeGreaterThan(box.left - frame.left);
 
-    // And one section stands further from the one above it than a heading does
-    // from its own first device — again the relationship, not a number.
+    // And a section stands further from the one above than from its own first
+    // device.
     const groups = document.body.querySelectorAll("[role='group']");
     const speakers = groups[0].querySelectorAll("input[type='radio']");
     const lastSpeaker = speakers[speakers.length - 1].getBoundingClientRect();
@@ -331,7 +300,7 @@ export const OnlyOneDevice: Story = {
     const canvas = within(canvasElement);
     await userEvent.click(canvas.getByRole("button", { name: "Microphone" }));
 
-    // Shown rather than hidden, so the menu keeps its shape everywhere.
+    // Shown, disabled, rather than hidden.
     const only = await within(document.body).findByRole("menuitemradio", {
       name: "Microphone 1",
     });
@@ -339,10 +308,7 @@ export const OnlyOneDevice: Story = {
   },
 };
 
-/**
- * A device has been asked for and has not arrived. Nothing in either section
- * can be picked until it does, so a second request cannot overtake the first.
- */
+/** A requested device hasn't arrived: nothing in either section can be picked. */
 export const SelectionSettling: Story = {
   args: {
     ...Default.args,
@@ -365,8 +331,7 @@ export const SelectionSettling: Story = {
     await userEvent.click(canvas.getByRole("button", { name: "Microphone" }));
     const menu = within(document.body);
 
-    // The story never changes `selectedOption`, which is what a device that has
-    // not taken effect yet looks like from here.
+    // selectedOption never changes, so the request stays in flight.
     await userEvent.click(
       await menu.findByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Microphone 2" }),
     );
@@ -378,12 +343,8 @@ export const SelectionSettling: Story = {
 };
 
 /**
- * The focus ring belongs to the keyboard. Radix focuses whatever the pointer is
- * over, so a ring that followed focus alone would trail the mouse.
- *
- * Asserted on the painted outline rather than on `data-focus-source`: the
- * attribute is what the stylesheet keys off, so asserting it would pass even
- * with the rule deleted.
+ * The ring shows for keyboard focus only. Asserted on the painted outline:
+ * asserting data-focus-source would still pass with the CSS rule deleted.
  */
 export const KeyboardFocusRing: Story = {
   args: {
@@ -418,10 +379,7 @@ export const KeyboardFocusRing: Story = {
   },
 };
 
-/**
- * More devices than the menu can show. The list scrolls, and the meter stays at
- * the foot of the Microphone section rather than scrolling away with it.
- */
+/** The list scrolls; the meter stays at the foot of the microphone section. */
 export const ManyDevices: Story = {
   args: {
     ...Default.args,
@@ -444,11 +402,8 @@ export const ManyDevices: Story = {
     await userEvent.click(canvas.getByRole("button", { name: "Microphone" }));
     const menu = within(document.body);
 
-    // The scroll container and the opaque sticky wrapper, named rather than
-    // walked: the nesting between them is layout, and it moves. The wrapper
-    // rather than the meter itself, because this story is about where the meter
-    // sits, not what it reads — without a fake microphone, as on WebKit, it
-    // says it has no permission instead of showing a level.
+    // The sticky wrapper rather than the meter: without a fake microphone (as on
+    // WebKit) the meter shows a message instead of a level.
     const list = document.body.querySelector<HTMLElement>(
       `.${styles.deviceList}`,
     )!;
@@ -461,10 +416,8 @@ export const ManyDevices: Story = {
     });
     await expect(list.scrollHeight).toBeGreaterThan(list.clientHeight);
 
-    // Scrolled so the Microphone section starts at the top of the scrollport.
-    // Its devices then run past the bottom, which is the position that tells a
-    // pinned meter from one that simply happens to be the last element: at the
-    // very bottom of the list the two look identical.
+    // Scrolled so the microphone section starts at the top: only there does a
+    // pinned meter differ from one that is simply last.
     const group = await menu.findByRole("group", { name: "Microphone" });
     list.scrollTop +=
       group.getBoundingClientRect().top - list.getBoundingClientRect().top;
@@ -477,35 +430,27 @@ export const ManyDevices: Story = {
     await expect(pinned.bottom).toBeLessThanOrEqual(scrollport.bottom + 1);
     await expect(pinned.top).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(scrollport.top - 1);
 
-    // The whole menu is on screen. It opens upward from the foot of the call,
-    // so a list bounded by something bigger than the call — the document, say —
-    // runs off the top and takes the speakers with it.
+    // The whole menu is on screen, not bounded by the document.
     const frame = document.body
       .querySelector("[role='menu']")!
       .getBoundingClientRect();
     await expect(frame.top).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
     await expect(frame.bottom).toBeLessThanOrEqual(window.innerHeight + 1);
 
-    // The meter is the one opaque thing in the menu, so it is the one thing
-    // that can cover the frame. Its box has to stay inside the menu's own. The
-    // paint itself needs a screenshot; this pins the geometry that decides it.
+    // The meter is the menu's one opaque part, so it must stay inside the frame.
     await expect(pinned.left).toBeGreaterThan(frame.left);
     await expect(pinned.right).toBeLessThan(frame.right);
   },
 };
 
-/** The painted outline width, in pixels, however the stylesheet spells it. */
+/** Painted outline width, in px. */
 function outlineWidth(element: HTMLElement): number {
   const { outlineStyle, outlineWidth } = getComputedStyle(element);
   if (outlineStyle === "none") return 0;
   return Number.parseFloat(outlineWidth) || 0;
 }
 
-/**
- * A platform that enumerates no output devices and offers no way to choose one
- * — Safari. The section still names where audio is going, disabled, rather than
- * leaving a heading with nothing under it.
- */
+/** Safari lists no outputs: a disabled, selected Default stands in. */
 export const OutputNotEnumerated: Story = {
   args: {
     ...Default.args,
@@ -531,15 +476,7 @@ export const OutputNotEnumerated: Story = {
   },
 };
 
-/**
- * The level meter's icon sits on the same centre line as the radio controls of
- * the devices above it.
- *
- * Held here because it is a fact about two components side by side, and because
- * layout decides it: the meter's row is inset to keep the menu's frame clear,
- * and its icon is a different size from a radio control, so the padding that
- * lines them up is arithmetic that would otherwise go stale in silence.
- */
+/** The meter's icon shares the radio controls' centre line; only a real browser lays this out. */
 export const MeterAlignsWithTheDeviceRows: Story = {
   args: {
     ...Default.args,
@@ -568,28 +505,19 @@ export const MeterAlignsWithTheDeviceRows: Story = {
   },
 };
 
-/** Where an element sits on the inline axis, at its middle. */
+/** Inline-axis centre of an element. */
 function centre(element: Element): number {
   const box = element.getBoundingClientRect();
   return box.left + box.width / 2;
 }
 
-/**
- * Walking the device list with the keyboard, all the way to the last entry.
- *
- * The level meter stands over the foot of the list, so a row scrolled flush to
- * the bottom edge arrives underneath it and can only half be read. Nothing in
- * the DOM says an element is covered, so this compares where the two were
- * actually drawn.
- */
+/** Every row the keyboard reaches is fully visible, not under a heading or the meter. */
 export const KeyboardReachesEveryDevice: Story = {
   args: {
     ...Default.args,
     iconsAndLabels: "audio",
     enabled: true,
-    // Enough of them that the list scrolls well past its own height, so that
-    // arrowing back up has to scroll too — which is where the heading can hide
-    // a row, as the meter can on the way down.
+    // Enough to scroll both ways, so either end can hide a row.
     options: Array.from({ length: 20 }, (_, i) => ({
       label: { type: "name" as const, name: `Microphone ${i + 1}` },
       id: `mic${i + 1}`,
@@ -614,8 +542,7 @@ export const KeyboardReachesEveryDevice: Story = {
       return element;
     });
 
-    // Everything that is drawn over the scrolling list: a heading holds the top
-    // while its section is in view, the meter holds the foot.
+    // Drawn over the list: the sticky headings and the meter.
     const overlays = [
       meter,
       ...document.body.querySelectorAll<HTMLElement>(
@@ -624,28 +551,20 @@ export const KeyboardReachesEveryDevice: Story = {
     ];
     const items = within(document.body).getAllByRole("menuitemradio");
 
-    // Down to the last device, as someone reading the list would, and back up
-    // again: a row can be hidden at either end.
+    // Down to the last device and back up.
     for (const key of ["{ArrowDown}", "{ArrowUp}"])
       for (let i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
         await userEvent.keyboard(key);
         const focused = document.activeElement as HTMLElement;
         await expect(focused).toHaveRole("menuitemradio");
-        // Nothing is drawn over the row the keyboard has just reached. Stated
-        // as overlap rather than as an edge, because whether a heading is in
-        // the way depends on whether its section is still on screen.
+        // Checked as overlap: a heading only covers rows while its section is on
+        // screen.
         await expect(overlapping(focused, overlays)).toBeLessThanOrEqual(1);
       }
   },
 };
 
-/**
- * A long list scrolled well into the microphones.
- *
- * The heading of the section you are in stays at the top of the list, so it is
- * always clear which kind of device the rows below are. It leaves with its own
- * section rather than stacking with the next one.
- */
+/** A section's heading stays at the top while the section is in view, and leaves with it. */
 export const HeadingsStayWhileScrolling: Story = {
   args: {
     ...Default.args,
@@ -672,14 +591,12 @@ export const HeadingsStayWhileScrolling: Story = {
       `.${styles.deviceList}`,
     )!;
     const group = await menu.findByRole("group", { name: "Microphone" });
-    // By class, not role: the heading is aria-hidden decoration, because the
-    // group it belongs to is what carries the name.
+    // By class: the heading is aria-hidden, and its group carries the name.
     const heading = group.querySelector<HTMLElement>(
       `.${styles.sectionHeading}`,
     )!;
 
-    // Far enough in that the heading's own place in the list is well above the
-    // top of the scrollport: it is only still on screen if it is stuck there.
+    // Far enough that the heading is only on screen if it is stuck there.
     list.scrollTop +=
       group.getBoundingClientRect().top - list.getBoundingClientRect().top + 80;
 
@@ -690,7 +607,7 @@ export const HeadingsStayWhileScrolling: Story = {
     await expect(heading.getBoundingClientRect().bottom).toBeGreaterThan(
       scrollport.top,
     );
-    // And it keeps clear of the menu's frame, as the meter does.
+    // Clear of the menu's frame.
     const frame = document.body
       .querySelector("[role='menu']")!
       .getBoundingClientRect();
@@ -700,13 +617,7 @@ export const HeadingsStayWhileScrolling: Story = {
   },
 };
 
-/**
- * How far an element is covered, in pixels, by the most overlapping of others.
- *
- * Nothing in the DOM says an element is obscured, and an element scrolled flush
- * to an edge of its container looks no different there from one a sticky
- * heading is sitting on top of. The boxes are the only witness.
- */
+/** How far the most overlapping of `overlays` covers `element`, in px. */
 function overlapping(element: Element, overlays: Element[]): number {
   const box = element.getBoundingClientRect();
   return overlays.reduce((worst, overlay) => {
@@ -717,13 +628,7 @@ function overlapping(element: Element, overlays: Element[]): number {
   }, 0);
 }
 
-/**
- * The camera menu's blur toggle, which the keyboard reaches after the cameras.
- *
- * It is a checkbox item and a child of the menu rather than of the device list,
- * so a focus ring hung on the list alone left it with the browser's own —
- * which follows the pointer, and is what the ring exists to replace.
- */
+/** The blur toggle gets the keyboard ring too: it is the menu's child, not the list's. */
 export const FocusRingCoversTheBlurToggle: Story = {
   args: {
     ...VideoUnmute.args,
@@ -738,16 +643,14 @@ export const FocusRingCoversTheBlurToggle: Story = {
       name: /Blur background/,
     });
 
-    // Arrowed down past the cameras to the toggle, which is the last thing in
-    // the menu.
+    // Arrow down past the cameras to the toggle.
     for (let i = 0; i < 6 && document.activeElement !== toggle; i++)
       await userEvent.keyboard("{ArrowDown}");
     await expect(document.activeElement).toBe(toggle);
     // The same ring the device rows get.
     await expect(outlineWidth(toggle)).toBeGreaterThan(0);
 
-    // And the pointer takes it away again, with the toggle still focused — so
-    // there is something to light up and it is not lit.
+    // And the pointer takes it away, with the toggle still focused.
     await userEvent.hover(toggle);
     await expect(document.activeElement).toBe(toggle);
     await expect(outlineWidth(toggle)).toBe(0);
diff --git a/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.test.tsx b/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.test.tsx
index 902a3bf29..b11b02d55 100644
--- a/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.test.tsx
+++ b/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.test.tsx
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ import { type MediaDevices } from "../state/MediaDevices";
 import { restoreAudioCapture, stubAudioCapture } from "../utils/test";
 import type * as MediaDevicesContextModule from "../MediaDevicesContext";
 
-// The menu reads the devices once per render and the meter never does, so
-// counting these calls counts how often the menu itself re-rendered.
+// The menu reads the devices on every render and the meter never does, so
+// these calls count the menu's own renders.
 vi.mock("../MediaDevicesContext", async (importOriginal) => {
   const actual = await importOriginal<typeof MediaDevicesContextModule>();
   return { ...actual, useMediaDevices: vi.fn(actual.useMediaDevices) };
@@ -61,8 +61,7 @@ function renderComponent(
 }
 
 describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
-  // Only one test stubs the capture, but leaving it stubbed would follow
-  // every later test in the run.
+  // Only one test stubs the capture; don't let it leak into the rest.
   afterEach(restoreAudioCapture);
 
   test("renders", () => {
@@ -393,8 +392,7 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
       screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Microphone 2" }),
     );
 
-    // In flight: nothing else can be picked, in either section, so a second
-    // request cannot overtake the first.
+    // In flight: nothing else can be picked, in either section.
     for (const name of ["Microphone 1", "Speakers", "Headset"]) {
       expect(screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name })).toHaveAttribute(
         "aria-disabled",
@@ -407,7 +405,7 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
       await promise;
     });
 
-    // Settled: choosable again.
+    // Settled: selectable again.
     expect(
       screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Microphone 1" }),
     ).not.toHaveAttribute("aria-disabled", "true");
@@ -418,9 +416,7 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
 
   test("lets go of a device switch that never arrives", async () => {
     const user = userEvent.setup();
-    // onSelect that never reports back is what a device removed mid-switch
-    // looks like from here: the selection falls back to the default, so what
-    // was asked for never becomes the selection.
+    // onSelect never reports back, as when a device is removed mid-switch.
     const { getByRole } = renderComponent(
       <MediaMuteAndSwitchButton
         iconsAndLabels="audio"
@@ -447,8 +443,6 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
     await user.keyboard("{Escape}");
     await user.click(getByRole("button", { name: "Microphone" }));
 
-    // Otherwise every device, in both sections, stays unselectable for the
-    // rest of the call.
     for (const name of ["Microphone 1", "Speakers", "Headset"]) {
       expect(screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name })).not.toHaveAttribute(
         "aria-disabled",
@@ -485,20 +479,18 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
       screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Microphone 2" }),
     );
 
-    // The second microphone is unplugged before the switch to it lands, so it
-    // is never going to become the selection.
+    // The second microphone is unplugged before the switch lands.
     rerender(withProviders(menu(mics.slice(0, 1))));
 
-    // The speakers are choosable again without the menu being closed: a
-    // request for a device that is gone is not in flight, it is over.
+    // Selectable again without closing the menu.
     expect(
       screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Headset" }),
     ).not.toHaveAttribute("aria-disabled", "true");
   });
 
   test("redraws the meter and not the device rows around it", async () => {
-    // A level arrives many times a second. Held in the menu it would reconcile
-    // every device row on its way to the bars, so it is held in the meter.
+    // The level is held by the meter, so a moving level doesn't re-render the
+    // menu.
     const capture = stubAudioCapture();
     const user = userEvent.setup();
     const menuRenders = vi.mocked(useMediaDevices);
@@ -529,16 +521,13 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
     const meter = await screen.findByRole("meter");
     const settled = menuRenders.mock.calls.length;
 
-    // The meter follows elapsed time rather than frames, so hand-driven frames
-    // need a clock to move at all: a frame every 16ms, from where the capture
-    // started.
+    // The meter smooths by elapsed time, so hand-driven frames need a clock.
     let elapsed = performance.now();
     const clock = vi
       .spyOn(performance, "now")
       .mockImplementation(() => (elapsed += 16));
 
-    // One frame per task, as a browser delivers them: drawing them all inside
-    // one act would let React batch what it would not batch in a browser.
+    // One frame per task, as a browser delivers them: one act() would batch them.
     for (let step = 1; step <= 8; step++) {
       capture.speak(step / 8);
       await act(async () => {
@@ -548,9 +537,7 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
     }
     clock.mockRestore();
 
-    // The level moved...
     expect(meter.getAttribute("aria-valuenow")).not.toBe("0");
-    // ...and the menu around it did not render once on the way.
     expect(menuRenders.mock.calls.length - settled).toBe(0);
   });
 
@@ -572,10 +559,8 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
 
     await user.click(getByRole("button", { name: "Camera" }));
 
-    // Same selection pattern as the microphone menu.
     screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Camera 1", checked: true });
     screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Camera 2", checked: false });
-    // And background blur is still reachable from here.
     expect(
       screen.getByRole("menuitemcheckbox", { name: "Blur background" }),
     ).toBeInTheDocument();
@@ -601,8 +586,7 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
       .getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Microphone 1" })
       .closest("[data-focus-source]");
 
-    // The menu focuses whatever the pointer is over, so focus alone says
-    // nothing about how someone is navigating.
+    // The menu focuses whatever the pointer is over, so focus alone says nothing.
     expect(list).toHaveAttribute("data-focus-source", "pointer");
 
     await user.keyboard("{ArrowDown}");
@@ -636,8 +620,7 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
       .getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Microphone 2" })
       .querySelector("input[type=radio]");
     expect(selected).toBeChecked();
-    // A read-only control is painted muted, which loses the accent fill that
-    // marks the selection and makes the menu differ from settings.
+    // readOnly would paint the selected radio muted.
     expect(selected).not.toHaveAttribute("readonly");
   });
 
@@ -664,8 +647,6 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
 
     await user.click(getByRole("button", { name: "Microphone" }));
 
-    // Includes the menu's own structure: wrappers between the menu and its
-    // items break the relationship the roles describe.
     const menu = document.querySelector('[role="menu"]');
     expect(await axe(menu as HTMLElement)).toHaveNoViolations();
   });
@@ -782,7 +763,7 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
 
     await user.click(getByRole("button", { name: "Microphone" }));
 
-    // Shown rather than hidden, so the menu keeps its shape, but not choosable.
+    // Shown, but not selectable.
     const only = screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Microphone 1" });
     expect(only).toHaveAttribute("aria-disabled", "true");
   });
@@ -799,8 +780,7 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
         ]}
         selectedOption="mic1"
         onSelect={vi.fn()}
-        // Safari enumerates no output devices at all, and offers no way to
-        // choose one.
+        // As Safari: no outputs listed.
         outputOptions={[]}
         selectedOutputOption={undefined}
         onSelectOutput={undefined}
@@ -809,8 +789,6 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
 
     await user.click(getByRole("button", { name: "Microphone" }));
 
-    // A heading with nothing under it says the feature is broken. Audio is
-    // playing somewhere, so the section names that somewhere and disables it.
     const speakers = screen
       .getAllByRole("group")
       .find((group) => group.getAttribute("aria-label") === "Speaker")!;
@@ -818,8 +796,6 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
     expect(entries).toHaveLength(1);
     expect(entries[0]).toHaveAccessibleName("Default");
     expect(entries[0]).toHaveAttribute("aria-disabled", "true");
-    // And marked as the selection: it is where audio is going, so an unchecked
-    // lone entry would read as nothing being chosen at all.
     expect(entries[0]).toHaveAttribute("aria-checked", "true");
     expect(
       within(entries[0]).getByRole("radio", { hidden: true }),
@@ -843,7 +819,6 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
           { label: { type: "name", name: "Headset" }, id: "spk2" },
         ]}
         selectedOutputOption="spk1"
-        // No callback: nothing can be picked here.
         onSelectOutput={undefined}
       />,
     );
@@ -856,7 +831,6 @@ describe("MediaMuteAndSwitchButton", () => {
     expect(
       screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Headset" }),
     ).toHaveAttribute("aria-disabled", "true");
-    // The microphone section is unaffected.
     expect(
       screen.getByRole("menuitemradio", { name: "Microphone 2" }),
     ).not.toHaveAttribute("aria-disabled", "true");
diff --git a/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.tsx b/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.tsx
index 9b2065ce5..25342f001 100644
--- a/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.tsx
+++ b/src/components/MediaMuteAndSwitchButton.tsx
@@ -62,10 +62,7 @@ export interface MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps {
   outputOptions?: MenuOptions[];
   /** The output option currently rendered as selected */
   selectedOutputOption?: string;
-  /**
-   * Called when an output device is picked. Undefined means no output can be
-   * chosen here, and the section renders disabled.
-   */
+  /** Picks an output device. Undefined disables the speaker section. */
   onSelectOutput?: (id: string) => void;
   videoBlurToggleClick?: () => void;
   videoBlurEnabled?: boolean;
@@ -101,9 +98,8 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
   videoBlurToggleClick,
   onSelect,
 }) => {
-  // Which device we have asked for but not yet been given. Carries the kind as
-  // well as the id, because an input and an output can share an id: "default"
-  // names both on Chrome.
+  // Requested but not yet selected. Keyed by kind too, since Chrome uses
+  // "default" for both an input and an output.
   const [plannedSelection, setPlannedSelection] = useState<{
     kind: "input" | "output";
     id: string;
@@ -111,7 +107,7 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
   const [menuOpen, setMenuOpen] = useState(false);
   const onOpenChange = useCallback((open: boolean): void => {
     setMenuOpen(open);
-    // A request that never arrived does not outlive the menu it was made in.
+    // Drop a request that never arrived.
     if (!open) setPlannedSelection(null);
   }, []);
   const isBusy = busy ?? false;
@@ -144,18 +140,12 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
     [],
   );
 
-  // The menu is portalled outside the call root, so nothing in the stylesheets
-  // can size it against the call. Measure the call area rather than the window,
-  // or the menu is wrong wherever Element Call is not the whole page.
+  // Measured on the call area: CSS can't size the portalled menu against it.
   const rootElement = useRootElement();
   const [listMaxHeight, setListMaxHeight] = useState<number>();
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!menuOpen) return;
-    // Followed rather than measured once: a host can resize the space Element
-    // Call is drawn in while the menu is open — a panel animating, a window
-    // dragged, a phone turned — and a bound taken on opening then describes a
-    // call area that no longer exists. Quantised before it reaches React, so a
-    // resize re-renders only when the bound itself moves.
+    // Followed, since a host can resize the call while the menu is open.
     const subscription = observeElementSize$(rootElement)
       .pipe(
         map(({ height }) =>
@@ -167,23 +157,17 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
     return (): void => subscription.unsubscribe();
   }, [menuOpen, rootElement]);
 
-  // The meter sits over the foot of the scrolling list, so the list has to
-  // keep that much of itself clear: a row scrolled to by the keyboard would
-  // otherwise arrive underneath it, half-read. Its own height, measured,
-  // because the failure states are two lines where a level is one.
+  // Kept clear at the list's foot, so a row reached by keyboard isn't under
+  // the meter.
   const [meterHeight, meter] = useMeasuredHeight();
 
-  // The headings stand over the head of the list, so it has to keep their
-  // height clear too — the same bargain as the meter, at the other end. One
-  // measurement serves both: the sections are headed alike.
+  // Likewise at its head, for the sticky headings.
   const [headingHeight, heading] = useMeasuredHeight();
 
   useEffect(() => {
     if (menuOpen) devices.requestDeviceNames(); // No-op after the first call
   }, [menuOpen, devices]);
 
-  // The mute control differs between the two only in which button it is and
-  // what it is called; how it behaves is the same, and was worth saying once.
   const MuteButton = iconsAndLabels === "audio" ? MicButton : VideoButton;
   const button = (
     <MuteButton
@@ -201,7 +185,6 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
     />
   );
 
-  // Only the camera menu carries a toggle, and only when the caller offers one.
   const toggles =
     iconsAndLabels === "video" && videoBlurToggleClick !== undefined
       ? [
@@ -231,7 +214,6 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
       break;
   }
 
-  /** The text shown for a device, whichever kind of label it carries. */
   const labelText = (
     label: MenuOptions["label"],
     numbered: (n: number) => string,
@@ -252,13 +234,8 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
     }
   };
 
-  // A device we asked for that has not arrived yet. Until it does, nothing in
-  // the menu can be picked, so a second request cannot overtake the first.
-  //
-  // A request only counts as in flight while the device is still on offer. One
-  // that is removed before it takes effect never arrives — the selection falls
-  // back to the default instead — and waiting for it would leave every device
-  // in both sections unselectable for the rest of the call.
+  // Nothing can be picked while a requested device is on offer but not yet
+  // selected, so a second request can't overtake it.
   const plannedOutput = plannedSelection?.kind === "output";
   const selectedOfPlannedKind = plannedOutput
     ? selectedOutputOption
@@ -269,17 +246,12 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
     plannedSelection.id !== selectedOfPlannedKind &&
     offeredOfPlannedKind?.some(({ id }) => id === plannedSelection.id) === true;
 
-  // Safari enumerates no output devices at all, and offers no way to choose
-  // one, so the list arrives empty. The section is shown all the same — audio
-  // is playing somewhere — naming that somewhere and disabling it like any
-  // single entry. A heading with nothing beneath it reads as a broken feature,
-  // and leaves the menu a different shape on one browser.
+  // Safari lists no outputs: show a disabled, selected Default rather than an
+  // empty section.
   const noOutputsListed = outputOptions?.length === 0;
   const speakerOptions: MenuOptions[] | undefined = noOutputsListed
     ? [{ id: DEFAULT_OUTPUT_ID, label: { type: "default", name: null } }]
     : outputOptions;
-  // And it is the selection, not merely the only row: it is where audio is
-  // going. An unchecked lone entry reads as nothing being chosen at all.
   const selectedSpeaker = noOutputsListed
     ? DEFAULT_OUTPUT_ID
     : selectedOutputOption;
@@ -292,30 +264,23 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
     numbered: (n: number) => string,
   ): ReactElement[] => {
     const list = items ?? [];
-    // Shown but not choosable when nothing can be picked here, or when there is
-    // only one device. The entry stays visible so the menu keeps the same shape
-    // on every platform.
+    // Disabled rather than hidden, so the menu keeps its shape.
     const disabled = select === undefined || list.length <= 1 || settling;
     return list.map(({ label, id }) => (
       <MenuItem
-        // A radio input inside a button is invalid, and the menu needs an
-        // element it can give menuitemradio semantics to.
+        // A radio input may not sit inside a button.
         as="div"
         hideChevron
         disabled={disabled}
         label={labelText(label, numbered)}
         Icon={
-          // Inert, not aria-hidden: a form control inside a menu item must be
-          // out of the focus order and out of the accessibility tree, and
-          // aria-hidden alone leaves it focusable. The item's aria-checked is
-          // what conveys the selection.
+          // Inert, not aria-hidden: aria-hidden alone leaves it focusable.
           <span inert>
             <RadioInput
               checked={selected === id}
               disabled={disabled}
-              // Not readOnly: that styles the control as muted, losing the
-              // accent fill that marks the selection. The menu item owns the
-              // interaction, so the change handler has nothing to do.
+              // Not readOnly, which mutes the selected fill. The item handles
+              // the click.
               onChange={(): void => {}}
             />
           </span>
@@ -377,8 +342,7 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
       >
         <div
           ref={trackFocusSource}
-          // Transparent to assistive technology, so the menu still sees its
-          // items as its own children.
+          // Keeps the items the menu's own children for assistive tech.
           role="none"
           className={styles.deviceList}
           style={
@@ -395,11 +359,8 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
           {iconsAndLabels === "audio" && speakerOptions && (
             <>
               {/* A menu may only contain items, separators and groups, so each
-                  heading belongs to a group rather than sitting beside the
-                  items it names. */}
+                  heading is a hidden part of a named group. */}
               <div role="group" aria-label={t("settings.devices.speaker")}>
-                {/* The heading is decoration: the group carries the name, and
-                    a menu may only contain items, separators and groups. */}
                 <div aria-hidden className={styles.sectionHeading}>
                   <MenuTitle title={t("settings.devices.speaker")} />
                 </div>
@@ -417,8 +378,7 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
             <div ref={heading} aria-hidden className={styles.sectionHeading}>
               <MenuTitle title={optionsButtonLabel} />
             </div>
-            {/* The heading sits outside, so the meter can never ride up over it:
-              sticky only holds while this block is in view. */}
+            {/* Apart from the heading, so the sticky meter can't ride over it. */}
             <div role="none">
               {deviceItems(
                 "input",
@@ -431,8 +391,7 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
                 <LiveMicrophoneLevelMeter
                   ref={meter}
                   deviceId={selectedOption}
-                  // Only while the menu is open, so nothing holds a second
-                  // capture of the microphone for the length of a call.
+                  // Only while open, so the microphone isn't held all call.
                   active={menuOpen}
                   className={styles.stickyMeter}
                 />
@@ -457,12 +416,7 @@ export const MediaMuteAndSwitchButton: FC<MediaMuteAndSwitchButtonProps> = ({
   );
 };
 
-/**
- * Follows an element's height, for the two pieces of chrome that stand over the
- * scrolling device list. Both have to keep their own height clear of it, and
- * neither height is knowable in advance: a heading wraps, and the meter's
- * failure states are two lines where a level is one.
- */
+/** Follows an element's height. */
 function useMeasuredHeight(): [
   number | undefined,
   (element: HTMLElement | null) => (() => void) | undefined,
diff --git a/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.module.css b/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.module.css
index 25444da4f..83e440c55 100644
--- a/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.module.css
+++ b/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.module.css
@@ -6,25 +6,18 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
 */
 
 .meter {
-  /* The icon column, the same width as a device row's, so the bars start where
-     the device names start. */
+  /* A device row's icon column, so the bars start where the names do. */
   --meter-icon-size: 24px;
 
-  /* Compound's radio control, which the icon has to share a centre line with. */
+  /* Compound's radio size, whose centre line the icon shares. */
   --device-control-size: 20px;
 
   display: flex;
   align-items: center;
   gap: var(--cpd-space-3x);
   padding-block: var(--cpd-space-2x);
-  /* The icon shares a centre with the radio controls in the device rows above,
-     which sit one 4x padding in from the menu's edge. Two things pull this row
-     out of line with them, and both come off the padding: the row is inset by a
-     border width so that the menu's frame stays visible behind it (see
-     `.stickyMeter`), and the icon is wider than a radio control, so it starts
-     half that difference further left for the two to share a centre. Both are
-     measured in the MeterAlignsWithTheDeviceRows story rather than trusted:
-     jsdom lays nothing out, so only a real browser can hold this. */
+  /* Centres the icon on the radio column: less the row's inset border and half
+     the icon's extra width. Checked in the MeterAlignsWithTheDeviceRows story. */
   padding-inline-start: calc(
     var(--cpd-space-4x) - var(--cpd-border-width-1) -
       (var(--meter-icon-size) - var(--device-control-size)) / 2
@@ -40,27 +33,15 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
 }
 
 .segments {
-  /* A bar and the space beside it are always the same size; what changes with
-     the width available is how many bars there are. Spreading a fixed number of
-     bars instead would make the meter a different shape in every place it is
-     used, and close them up into one solid block wherever the space ran short —
-     and a meter whose bars touch stops reading as a count, which is what
-     carries the level for anyone who cannot rely on the colour.
-
-     Both sizes are set here and nowhere else: the component reads them back off
-     the rendered bars to work out how many fit. */
+  /* Bars keep one size and the width decides how many; the component reads the
+     sizes back from here. */
   flex: 1;
-  /* The width decides the count, never the other way round. Containment is
-     what enforces that: without it the bars are both a floor under the width
-     and the widest thing in the menu, so the meter would set the menu's width
-     and the device names — which are what a person is reading — would have to
-     fit around it. */
+  /* So the bars never set the menu's width. */
   contain: inline-size;
   min-inline-size: 0;
   display: flex;
   align-items: center;
-  /* Half again as wide as a bar, as the design has it: bars set as close as
-     their own width read as a solid block long before they touch. */
+  /* Half again a bar's width, per the design. */
   gap: var(--cpd-space-1-5x);
 }
 
@@ -72,16 +53,13 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
   background: var(--cpd-color-bg-subtle-primary);
 }
 
-/* Filled segments carry the level by count as well as by colour, so the meter
-   stays readable without relying on hue. */
+/* The count of lit bars carries the level as well as their colour. */
 .segmentLit {
   background: var(--cpd-color-bg-accent-rest);
 }
 
 .message {
   color: var(--cpd-color-text-secondary);
-  /* A paragraph brings a margin below it, which in a centred row does not push
-     the text down but lifts it: the margin box is what gets centred, so the
-     words end up above the middle and the icon beside them looks low. */
+  /* A paragraph's margin would lift the text off centre. */
   margin-block: 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.stories.tsx b/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.stories.tsx
index 8efbd374b..423472bc9 100644
--- a/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.stories.tsx
+++ b/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.stories.tsx
@@ -16,15 +16,7 @@ import {
 import styles from "./MicrophoneLevelMeter.module.css";
 import { LEVEL_SCALE } from "../state/MicrophoneLevel";
 
-/**
- * A width to show the meter at, close to the menu it lives in.
- *
- * Not a copy of the menu's width, and nothing depends on the two agreeing: a
- * bar and the gap beside it are a fixed size now, so this only decides how many
- * bars there is room for. Without a width at all the stories would shrink-wrap
- * to almost nothing and show a meter two bars wide, which is no use to anyone
- * looking at them.
- */
+/** Roughly the menu's width. It only decides how many bars fit. */
 const STORY_WIDTH = 256;
 
 const meta = {
@@ -47,10 +39,7 @@ const meta = {
 export default meta;
 type Story = StoryObj<typeof meta>;
 
-/**
- * A quiet room. Nothing is lit: room hiss below the noise floor must not read
- * as "it can hear me".
- */
+/** A quiet room: hiss below the noise floor lights nothing. */
 export const Silent: Story = {
   args: { state: { type: "level", level: 0 } },
   play: async ({ canvasElement }) => {
@@ -65,11 +54,7 @@ export const QuietSpeech: Story = {
 export const NormalSpeech: Story = {
   args: { state: { type: "level", level: 12 } },
   play: async ({ canvasElement }) => {
-    // Shown at something like the width of the menu, so the meter in a story
-    // reads like the meter in a call rather than like a handful of bars. The
-    // design's own mock has sixteen of them at this width; a floor rather than
-    // a count, because the number follows from the bar and gap sizes and those
-    // are the design's to change.
+    // A floor, not a count: the count follows from the design's bar and gap sizes.
     await expect(
       canvasElement.getElementsByClassName(styles.segment).length,
     ).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(15);
@@ -80,10 +65,7 @@ export const LoudSpeech: Story = {
   args: { state: { type: "level", level: LEVEL_SCALE } },
 };
 
-/**
- * The three volumes differ by how many bars are lit, so the level survives
- * greyscale and a screen reader as well as it survives colour.
- */
+/** The three volumes differ in how many bars are lit, not only in colour. */
 export const VolumesAreDistinguishable: Story = {
   args: { state: { type: "level", level: 5 } },
   play: async ({ canvasElement, mount }) => {
@@ -96,17 +78,12 @@ export const VolumesAreDistinguishable: Story = {
         String(level),
       );
     }
-    // Three different counts, rising: the level is carried by how many bars
-    // are lit, not by their colour alone.
     await expect(new Set(lit).size).toBe(lit.length);
     await expect(lit).toEqual([...lit].sort((a, b) => a - b));
   },
 };
 
-/**
- * Permission refused. A message with a next action, never a still meter that
- * reads as silence.
- */
+/** Permission refused: a message with a next action, not a still meter. */
 export const PermissionDenied: Story = {
   args: { state: { type: "permission-denied" } },
   play: async ({ canvasElement }) => {
@@ -118,7 +95,7 @@ export const PermissionDenied: Story = {
   },
 };
 
-/** No input device at all, told apart from a refusal. */
+/** No input device, told apart from a refusal. */
 export const NoDevice: Story = {
   args: { state: { type: "no-device" } },
   play: async ({ canvasElement }) => {
@@ -126,9 +103,7 @@ export const NoDevice: Story = {
     await expect(canvas.queryByRole("meter")).toBeNull();
     await expect(canvas.getByText(/No microphone found/)).toBeVisible();
 
-    // The icon sits on the middle of the words, however many lines they run to.
-    // A paragraph's own margin would centre its margin box instead, leaving the
-    // text high and the icon looking low beside it.
+    // The icon sits on the middle of the text, however many lines it runs to.
     const middle = (element: Element): number => {
       const box = element.getBoundingClientRect();
       return box.top + box.height / 2;
@@ -139,15 +114,7 @@ export const NoDevice: Story = {
   },
 };
 
-/**
- * The same meter at two widths.
- *
- * A bar and the space beside it are always the same size; what changes is how
- * many bars there are. Spreading a fixed number of bars instead would make the
- * meter a different shape in every place it is used, and close the bars up into
- * one block wherever the space ran short — and bars that touch cannot be
- * counted, which is what carries the level without colour.
- */
+/** The same meter at two widths: the bars keep their size and only their count changes. */
 export const ShapeStaysTheSameAtAnyWidth: Story = {
   args: { state: { type: "level", level: 12 } },
   play: async ({ mount, args }) => {
@@ -157,17 +124,17 @@ export const ShapeStaysTheSameAtAnyWidth: Story = {
     await expect(narrow.bar).toBe(wide.bar);
     await expect(narrow.gap).toBe(wide.gap);
     await expect(narrow.count).toBeLessThan(wide.count);
-    // And the bars are still bars, not one run of colour.
+    // The bars are still separate, not one run of colour.
     await expect(narrow.gap).toBeGreaterThan(0);
   },
 };
 
-/** How many bars are painted as carrying level, rather than as empty. */
+/** How many bars are lit. */
 function litSegments(canvasElement: HTMLElement): number {
   return canvasElement.getElementsByClassName(styles.segmentLit).length;
 }
 
-/** Renders the meter at one width and reports the shape of its bars. */
+/** Renders the meter at one width and reports its bars' shape. */
 async function measureAt(
   mount: (ui: JSX.Element) => Promise<unknown>,
   args: MicrophoneLevelMeterProps,
diff --git a/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.test.tsx b/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.test.tsx
index b215f39e9..8723791ae 100644
--- a/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.test.tsx
+++ b/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.test.tsx
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ describe("MicrophoneLevelMeter", () => {
     const denied = render(
       <MicrophoneLevelMeter state={{ type: "permission-denied" }} />,
     );
-    // A next action, not a flat meter that reads as silence.
     expect(
       denied.getByText(/Microphone access is blocked/),
     ).toBeInTheDocument();
diff --git a/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.tsx b/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.tsx
index 38516b20a..0382aa55f 100644
--- a/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.tsx
+++ b/src/components/MicrophoneLevelMeter.tsx
@@ -28,12 +28,8 @@ export interface LiveMicrophoneLevelMeterProps {
 }
 
 /**
- * The level meter, wired to a live capture of a microphone.
- *
- * A component of its own so that a level which does change redraws the meter
- * and not whatever is rendered beside it. A moving level arrives many times a
- * second; held in the menu, it would reconcile every device row on the way to
- * the bars.
+ * The meter, wired to a live capture. Its own component so a changing level
+ * re-renders the meter, not its parent.
  */
 export const LiveMicrophoneLevelMeter: FC<LiveMicrophoneLevelMeterProps> = ({
   deviceId,
@@ -48,27 +44,18 @@ export const LiveMicrophoneLevelMeter: FC<LiveMicrophoneLevelMeterProps> = ({
 export interface MicrophoneLevelMeterProps {
   state: MicrophoneState;
   className?: string;
-  /**
-   * The meter's own element. Its height is what a scroll container has to keep
-   * clear to stop the meter covering the row it has just scrolled to.
-   */
   ref?: Ref<HTMLDivElement>;
 }
 
-/**
- * The live input level of the selected microphone, shown beneath it, or the
- * reason there is no level to show.
- */
+/** The input level of a microphone, or why there is none. */
 export const MicrophoneLevelMeter: FC<MicrophoneLevelMeterProps> = ({
   state,
   className,
   ref,
 }) => {
   const { t } = useTranslation();
-  // How many bars there is room for. The bars never change size, so this is
-  // what absorbs a change of width. Starts at the full count so that the first
-  // paint is a meter rather than a single bar, and so that a renderer with no
-  // layout at all — jsdom — still draws the whole thing.
+  // Bars keep one size, so their count follows the width. Starts full so the
+  // first paint, and jsdom, draw a whole meter.
   const [barCount, setBarCount] = useState(LEVEL_SCALE);
   const track = useCallback(
     (element: HTMLDivElement | null): (() => void) | undefined => {
@@ -112,8 +99,7 @@ export const MicrophoneLevelMeter: FC<MicrophoneLevelMeterProps> = ({
               key={i}
               aria-hidden
               className={classNames(styles.segment, {
-                // The level is a share of the scale, not a count of bars: how
-                // many stand for it depends on how many there are.
+                // The level is a share of the scale, not a bar count.
                 [styles.segmentLit]:
                   i < Math.round((state.level / LEVEL_SCALE) * barCount),
               })}
@@ -125,15 +111,11 @@ export const MicrophoneLevelMeter: FC<MicrophoneLevelMeterProps> = ({
   );
 };
 
-/**
- * How many bars fit across `width`, measured off a rendered one rather than
- * told: a bar's size is a design question, settled in the stylesheet, and
- * reading it back is what keeps it from being settled twice.
- */
+/** How many bars fit across `width`, measured so the stylesheet alone sets their size. */
 function barsThatFit(track: HTMLElement, width: number): number {
   const gap = Number.parseFloat(getComputedStyle(track).columnGap);
   const bar = track.firstElementChild?.getBoundingClientRect().width ?? 0;
-  // A renderer that lays nothing out tells us nothing; keep the full count.
+  // No layout (jsdom): keep the full count.
   if (!(bar > 0) || !(gap >= 0)) return LEVEL_SCALE;
   return Math.max(1, Math.floor((width + gap) / (bar + gap)));
 }
diff --git a/src/components/useMicrophoneLevel.test.tsx b/src/components/useMicrophoneLevel.test.tsx
index 1258bfeea..2c651457a 100644
--- a/src/components/useMicrophoneLevel.test.tsx
+++ b/src/components/useMicrophoneLevel.test.tsx
@@ -11,9 +11,7 @@ import { renderHook } from "@testing-library/react";
 import { useMicrophoneLevel } from "./useMicrophoneLevel";
 import { restoreAudioCapture, stubAudioCapture } from "../utils/test";
 
-// The capture itself, and releasing it, belong to observeMicrophoneState$ and
-// are covered in src/state/MicrophoneLevel.test.ts. What is left here is the
-// bridging: when the hook watches, and what it reports before it has an answer.
+// Capture and release are covered in MicrophoneLevel.test.ts; this covers the bridge.
 describe("useMicrophoneLevel", () => {
   afterEach(restoreAudioCapture);
 
@@ -36,7 +34,7 @@ describe("useMicrophoneLevel", () => {
 
     rerender({ id: "mic2" });
 
-    // No level carried over: the meter reads the new device or nothing at all.
+    // No level carried over from the previous device.
     expect(result.current).toEqual({ type: "level", level: 0 });
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/components/useMicrophoneLevel.ts b/src/components/useMicrophoneLevel.ts
index 6e295d3e4..f357744db 100644
--- a/src/components/useMicrophoneLevel.ts
+++ b/src/components/useMicrophoneLevel.ts
@@ -14,14 +14,7 @@ import {
 
 const IDLE: MicrophoneState = { type: "level", level: 0 };
 
-/**
- * Reads the live input level of a microphone, while `active`.
- *
- * A bridge and nothing else: the capture, its lifetime and the maths belong to
- * {@link observeMicrophoneState$}. Scoped to `active` so the device is held
- * only while whatever shows the meter is on screen, rather than for the length
- * of a call.
- */
+/** The live level of a microphone, captured only while `active`. */
 export function useMicrophoneLevel(
   deviceId: string | undefined,
   active: boolean,
@@ -30,8 +23,7 @@ export function useMicrophoneLevel(
 
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!active) return;
-    // Idle first, so a new device starts from nothing rather than from the
-    // level the previous one was reading.
+    // Idle first, so a new device doesn't start from the previous level.
     setState(IDLE);
     const subscription = observeMicrophoneState$(deviceId).subscribe(setState);
     return (): void => subscription.unsubscribe();
diff --git a/src/room/LobbyView.test.tsx b/src/room/LobbyView.test.tsx
index a75dc1c79..3aa4f136f 100644
--- a/src/room/LobbyView.test.tsx
+++ b/src/room/LobbyView.test.tsx
@@ -191,7 +191,6 @@ describe("LobbyView microphone level", () => {
 
   afterEach(() => {
     vi.unstubAllGlobals();
-    // Put navigator back, or every later test in the run inherits the stub.
     if (realMediaDevices === undefined) {
       Reflect.deleteProperty(navigator, "mediaDevices");
     } else {
@@ -199,7 +198,6 @@ describe("LobbyView microphone level", () => {
     }
   });
 
-  /** Just enough of the Web Audio and capture APIs for the meter to run. */
   function stubAudioCapture(): void {
     vi.stubGlobal(
       "AudioContext",
@@ -217,8 +215,7 @@ describe("LobbyView microphone level", () => {
         public close(): void {}
       },
     );
-    // Only this property: replacing navigator wholesale drops the getters on
-    // its prototype, such as userAgent.
+    // Only this property: replacing navigator loses getters like userAgent.
     Object.defineProperty(navigator, "mediaDevices", {
       configurable: true,
       value: {
@@ -241,8 +238,7 @@ describe("LobbyView microphone level", () => {
       },
     } as unknown as Partial<MediaDevices>);
 
-    // The meter lives with the microphone picker, which the pre-join screen
-    // reaches through the same chevron as a call in progress.
+    // Pre-join reaches the meter through the same chevron as a call.
     await user.click(getByRole("button", { name: "Microphone" }));
 
     expect(
diff --git a/src/state/MediaDevices.test.ts b/src/state/MediaDevices.test.ts
index 739f6d196..69c23765c 100644
--- a/src/state/MediaDevices.test.ts
+++ b/src/state/MediaDevices.test.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ vi.mock("../Platform", () => ({
   },
   isFirefox: (): boolean => false,
 }));
-// One observer per device kind, so a test can add and remove hardware.
 const observers = vi.hoisted(
   () => new Map<string, { next: (devices: unknown[]) => void }>(),
 );
@@ -75,7 +74,7 @@ function device(deviceId: string, label: string, groupId = deviceId): object {
   return { deviceId, label, groupId, kind: "audioinput" };
 }
 
-/** Replaces the hardware of one kind, as the browser would report it. */
+/** Replaces the devices of one kind, as the browser reports them. */
 function setDevices(kind: string, devices: object[]): void {
   const observer = observers.get(kind);
   if (observer === undefined) throw new Error(`nothing observing ${kind}`);
@@ -103,7 +102,7 @@ describe("MediaDevices selection", () => {
 
     devices.audioInput.select("mic2");
 
-    // A later call on the same machine reads the same stored preference.
+    // A later call reads the same stored preference.
     expect(newMediaDevices().audioInput.selected$.value?.id).toBe("mic2");
   });
 
@@ -112,7 +111,6 @@ describe("MediaDevices selection", () => {
     setDevices("audioinput", [device("mic1", "Microphone 1")]);
     expect([...devices.audioInput.available$.value.keys()]).toEqual(["mic1"]);
 
-    // A headset is plugged in.
     setDevices("audioinput", [
       device("mic1", "Microphone 1"),
       device("mic2", "Headset"),
@@ -122,7 +120,6 @@ describe("MediaDevices selection", () => {
       "mic2",
     ]);
 
-    // And unplugged again.
     setDevices("audioinput", [device("mic1", "Microphone 1")]);
     expect([...devices.audioInput.available$.value.keys()]).toEqual(["mic1"]);
   });
@@ -136,7 +133,6 @@ describe("MediaDevices selection", () => {
     devices.audioInput.select("mic2");
     expect(devices.audioInput.selected$.value?.id).toBe("mic2");
 
-    // The headset is unplugged mid-call.
     setDevices("audioinput", [device("mic1", "Microphone 1")]);
 
     expect(devices.audioInput.selected$.value?.id).toBe("mic1");
@@ -145,7 +141,6 @@ describe("MediaDevices selection", () => {
   test("falls back when the remembered device is absent", () => {
     const devices = newMediaDevices();
     setDevices("audioinput", [device("mic1", "Microphone 1")]);
-    // Remembered from a previous call, on hardware that is not here now.
     devices.audioInput.select("a-device-from-last-time");
 
     expect(devices.audioInput.selected$.value?.id).toBe("mic1");
@@ -153,7 +148,7 @@ describe("MediaDevices selection", () => {
 
   test("falls back to numbered labels when labels are unavailable", () => {
     const devices = newMediaDevices();
-    // The browser withholds names until permission has been granted.
+    // Names are withheld until permission is granted.
     setDevices("audioinput", [device("mic1", ""), device("mic2", "")]);
 
     expect([...devices.audioInput.available$.value.values()]).toEqual([
@@ -167,10 +162,7 @@ describe("MediaDevices selection", () => {
     setDevices("audiooutput", [device("spk1", "Speakers")]);
 
     const available = devices.audioOutput.available$.value;
-    // Default follows the operating system and re-points when it changes, so
-    // it is its own choice rather than an alias for the device it resolves to.
-    // It carries no name of its own precisely because which device it resolves
-    // to is not knowable from here.
+    // Default is its own entry, unnamed: which device it resolves to isn't knowable.
     expect(available.get("spk1")).toEqual({ type: "name", name: "Speakers" });
     expect(available.get("")).toEqual({ type: "default", name: null });
   });
diff --git a/src/state/MicrophoneLevel.test.ts b/src/state/MicrophoneLevel.test.ts
index 79c849782..b99988f81 100644
--- a/src/state/MicrophoneLevel.test.ts
+++ b/src/state/MicrophoneLevel.test.ts
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@ describe("segmentsForVolume", () => {
   });
 
   test("shows nothing for the hiss of a quiet room", () => {
-    // Without a noise floor these light the first segments permanently, which
-    // reads as "it can hear me" when nobody is speaking.
     expect(segmentsForVolume(0.005)).toBe(0);
     expect(segmentsForVolume(0.015)).toBe(0);
   });
@@ -40,8 +38,7 @@ describe("segmentsForVolume", () => {
   });
 
   test("moves the meter visibly for normal speech", () => {
-    // Ordinary speech should reach the middle of the meter, not scrape along
-    // the floor: a meter that barely moves reads as a broken microphone.
+    // Ordinary speech reaches the middle of the meter.
     expect(segmentsForVolume(0.2)).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(LEVEL_SCALE / 4);
   });
 
@@ -65,16 +62,14 @@ describe("smoothVolume", () => {
   });
 
   test("registers a syllable as it starts", () => {
-    // Most of the way there within one attack time constant, so speech does
-    // not lag the speaker.
+    // Most of the way within one attack time constant.
     expect(smoothVolume(0, 1, ATTACK_MS)).toBeGreaterThan(0.6);
   });
 
   test("rides over the gaps between words", () => {
-    // A pause of a few tens of milliseconds should not collapse the meter, or
-    // it flickers rather than reading as a level.
+    // A short pause doesn't collapse the meter...
     expect(smoothVolume(1, 0, 30)).toBeGreaterThan(0.7);
-    // A real silence still brings it down.
+    // ...but a real silence brings it down.
     expect(smoothVolume(1, 0, RELEASE_MS * 3)).toBeLessThan(0.1);
   });
 
@@ -98,8 +93,7 @@ describe("observeMicrophoneState$", () => {
     const capture = stubAudioCapture();
 
     const subscription = observeMicrophoneState$("mic1").subscribe();
-    // The user gives up on the permission prompt and closes the menu, and only
-    // then does the browser hand the microphone over.
+    // The menu closes before the browser hands the microphone over.
     subscription.unsubscribe();
     capture.grant();
     await vi.waitFor(() => expect(capture.track.stop).toHaveBeenCalled());
@@ -120,8 +114,7 @@ describe("observeMicrophoneState$", () => {
 
   test("gives the microphone back when the audio graph fails to build", async () => {
     const capture = stubAudioCapture();
-    // The graph fails only after getUserMedia has handed the device over, so
-    // there is a live capture to lose.
+    // Fails only after getUserMedia has granted the device.
     vi.stubGlobal(
       "AudioContext",
       class {
@@ -138,8 +131,6 @@ describe("observeMicrophoneState$", () => {
     capture.grant();
 
     await vi.waitFor(() => expect(seen).toContain("no-device"));
-    // Without this the microphone stays open, and its in-use light on, behind
-    // a meter that says it is unavailable.
     expect(capture.track.stop).toHaveBeenCalled();
 
     subscription.unsubscribe();
@@ -173,8 +164,7 @@ describe("observeMicrophoneState$", () => {
     capture.grant();
     await vi.waitFor(() => expect(emissions).toBe(1));
 
-    // The analyser is read every animation frame, but the meter has only
-    // LEVEL_SCALE steps: a steady signal must not redraw the meter.
+    // Read every frame, but a steady signal emits once.
     capture.drawFrames(20);
     expect(emissions).toBe(1);
 
@@ -182,7 +172,7 @@ describe("observeMicrophoneState$", () => {
   });
 });
 
-/** An error with the `name` the browser would give it, not just a message. */
+/** An error carrying the browser's `name`. */
 function named(error: Error, name: string): Error {
   error.name = name;
   return error;
diff --git a/src/state/MicrophoneLevel.ts b/src/state/MicrophoneLevel.ts
index 43f57ec29..8e88a5042 100644
--- a/src/state/MicrophoneLevel.ts
+++ b/src/state/MicrophoneLevel.ts
@@ -8,37 +8,19 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
 import { distinctUntilChanged, Observable } from "rxjs";
 import { logger } from "matrix-js-sdk/lib/logger";
 
-/**
- * What the microphone selector can say about the input, beyond its level.
- *
- * Silence and a broken microphone look identical on a meter, so the states a
- * user has to act on are named rather than drawn as a flat bar.
- */
+/** What the microphone picks up, or why it can't be read. */
 export type MicrophoneState =
   | { type: "level"; level: number }
   | { type: "permission-denied" }
   | { type: "no-device" };
 
-/**
- * The scale a level is reported on: 0 means silence, this means full scale.
- *
- * Fixed, and deliberately not the number of bars drawn — that follows the
- * width available. A scale that moved with the width would announce the same
- * loudness as different numbers in different places, and would make this layer
- * depend on how wide something is drawn.
- */
+/** Scale a level is reported on. Fixed rather than the bar count, so a level reads the same at any width. */
 export const LEVEL_SCALE = 24;
 
 /**
- * Observes what a microphone is picking up, as the meter should show it.
- *
- * - Held for exactly as long as something is watching: subscribing opens the
- *   device, unsubscribing releases it. The menu, not the call.
- * - Its own capture rather than the track the call holds, by design. The
- *   pre-join screen freezes that track to the device selected when it mounted,
- *   so a meter fed from it could not follow the picker.
- * - Says whether the microphone hears anything, not whether anyone hears the
- *   user: it keeps reading while muted, and the mute control carries that.
+ * The level of a microphone, captured while subscribed. Its own capture rather
+ * than the call's track, because pre-join freezes that track to the device
+ * selected at mount.
  */
 export function observeMicrophoneState$(
   deviceId: string | undefined,
@@ -48,8 +30,7 @@ export function observeMicrophoneState$(
     let context: AudioContext | undefined;
     let frame: number | undefined;
 
-    // Safe to call more than once: unsubscribing runs it, and `start` runs it
-    // again for anything the browser handed over after that.
+    // Idempotent: teardown and start can both call it.
     const release = (): void => {
       if (frame !== undefined) cancelAnimationFrame(frame);
       stream?.getTracks().forEach((track) => track.stop());
@@ -64,16 +45,11 @@ export function observeMicrophoneState$(
         audio:
           deviceId === undefined ? true : { deviceId: { exact: deviceId } },
       });
-      // A permission prompt outlives the subscription that asked for it, so by
-      // now nobody may be watching — and `release` ran while `stream` was still
-      // undefined. Nothing will call it again, so release here or the device
-      // stays held, with the indicator lit and no meter on screen.
+      // Unsubscribed while the permission prompt was open.
       if (subscriber.closed) return release();
 
       context = new AudioContext();
-      // Chrome starts the context suspended unless it was created during a
-      // gesture; opening the menu is one, but resume explicitly so the meter
-      // cannot silently sit at zero.
+      // Starts suspended outside a user gesture, which would read as silence.
       if (context.state === "suspended") await context.resume();
       if (subscriber.closed) return release();
 
@@ -86,8 +62,7 @@ export function observeMicrophoneState$(
 
       const read = (): void => {
         analyser.getByteTimeDomainData(samples);
-        // Root mean square of the waveform around its centre, which is the
-        // loudness a listener perceives rather than the tallest spike.
+        // RMS: perceived loudness rather than the peak.
         let sum = 0;
         for (const sample of samples) {
           const centred = (sample - 128) / 128;
@@ -107,19 +82,14 @@ export function observeMicrophoneState$(
     };
 
     start().catch((e: unknown) => {
-      // Building the graph can fail after getUserMedia has already resolved,
-      // and the capture would then outlive its own failure: the microphone
-      // open and its in-use light on, behind a meter reporting it as
-      // unavailable. Releasing is its own step, which teardown and this path
-      // both take.
+      // Building the graph can fail after the device was granted.
       release();
       subscriber.next(stateForFailure(e));
     });
 
     return release;
   }).pipe(
-    // Read every animation frame, but quantised to a whole number of segments,
-    // so most frames say nothing new and should not reach React.
+    // Frames that don't move the quantised level don't reach React.
     distinctUntilChanged(
       (a, b) =>
         a.type === b.type &&
@@ -139,41 +109,24 @@ function stateForFailure(e: unknown): MicrophoneState {
   return { type: "no-device" };
 }
 
-/**
- * Loudness below which the microphone counts as hearing nothing. A quiet room
- * is never digitally silent, and without a floor that hiss lights the first
- * bars permanently — which reads as "it can hear me" when nobody is speaking.
- */
+/** Below this counts as silence, so a quiet room's hiss doesn't light the first bars. */
 const NOISE_FLOOR = 0.02;
 
-/**
- * Quantises a 0..1 volume onto {@link LEVEL_SCALE}. Exported for the tests:
- * this mapping is what decides whether quiet, normal and loud look different.
- */
+/** Quantises a 0..1 volume onto {@link LEVEL_SCALE}. */
 export function segmentsForVolume(volume: number): number {
   if (!Number.isFinite(volume) || volume <= NOISE_FLOOR) return 0;
-  // Volume arrives as amplitude, where speech occupies a small part of the top
-  // of the range. A square root spreads that out, so ordinary speech moves the
-  // meter through its middle rather than barely leaving the floor.
+  // Square root, so ordinary speech reaches the middle of the scale.
   const aboveFloor = (Math.min(volume, 1) - NOISE_FLOOR) / (1 - NOISE_FLOOR);
   return Math.min(LEVEL_SCALE, Math.ceil(Math.sqrt(aboveFloor) * LEVEL_SCALE));
 }
 
-/** Time constant for a rise. Short, so a syllable registers as it starts. */
+/** Rise time constant: short, so a syllable registers as it starts. */
 export const ATTACK_MS = 50;
 
-/**
- * Time constant for a fall. Longer than the attack: speech is full of gaps a
- * few tens of milliseconds long, and tracking them exactly would flicker.
- */
+/** Fall time constant: longer, so the gaps between words don't flicker. */
 export const RELEASE_MS = 120;
 
-/**
- * Moves a displayed level towards a new reading, fast up and slowly down.
- *
- * In elapsed time rather than frames, so it behaves the same at 60Hz and
- * 120Hz, and does not jump when a frame is dropped.
- */
+/** Eases towards a reading, by elapsed time so the frame rate doesn't matter. */
 export function smoothVolume(
   displayed: number,
   reading: number,
diff --git a/src/utils/test.ts b/src/utils/test.ts
index d8964d6ac..405e5947b 100644
--- a/src/utils/test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/test.ts
@@ -594,26 +594,19 @@ export class MockConnection extends Connection {
 
 export interface StubbedCapture {
   getUserMedia: Mock;
-  /** Hands the microphone over, as the browser does once permission is given. */
+  /** Grants the microphone, as the browser does once permission is given. */
   grant: () => void;
   track: { stop: Mock };
   contexts: { close: Mock }[];
-  /** Runs the animation frames the level meter reads on, in order. */
+  /** Runs the pending animation frames, in order. */
   drawFrames: (count: number) => void;
-  /**
-   * Sets how loud the microphone is, 0 for silence and 1 for full scale.
-   * Takes effect on the next frame drawn.
-   */
+  /** Sets the microphone's loudness from the next frame, 0 to 1. */
   speak: (amplitude: number) => void;
 }
 
 /**
- * Stubs just enough of the capture and Web Audio APIs for a microphone level to
- * be read, with the grant held back so a test decides when — or whether — it
- * lands, and with animation frames driven by hand rather than by a clock.
- *
- * Call {@link restoreAudioCapture} afterwards, or every later test in the run
- * inherits the stub.
+ * Stubs the capture and Web Audio APIs, with the grant and the animation
+ * frames driven by the test. Undo with {@link restoreAudioCapture}.
  */
 export function stubAudioCapture(): StubbedCapture {
   const track = { stop: vi.fn() };
@@ -643,8 +636,7 @@ export function stubAudioCapture(): StubbedCapture {
         return {
           fftSize: 1024,
           getByteTimeDomainData: (samples: Uint8Array): void => {
-            // Digital silence is the midpoint of the range and not zero: a
-            // buffer left at zero reads as a full-scale waveform.
+            // Silence is the midpoint of the range; a zeroed buffer reads as full scale.
             if (amplitude <= 0) {
               samples.fill(128);
               return;
@@ -660,8 +652,7 @@ export function stubAudioCapture(): StubbedCapture {
       }
     },
   );
-  // Only this property: replacing navigator wholesale drops the getters on its
-  // prototype, such as userAgent.
+  // Only this property: replacing navigator loses getters like userAgent.
   Object.defineProperty(navigator, "mediaDevices", {
     configurable: true,
     value: { getUserMedia: vi.fn().mockReturnValue(granted) },