Own the microphone level in the state layer

- The capture, the analyser loop and the loudness maths were in a component
  hook. Call logic belongs in the state layer; components render.
- observeMicrophoneState$ opens the device when something subscribes and
  releases it when nothing does. The hook is left as a bridge, no domain logic.
- Fixes a leak. A permission prompt outlives the menu that opened it, so the
  browser could hand over a microphone after cleanup had already run — with the
  variable that cleanup would have released still unset. The device stayed
  held, indicator lit, no meter on screen.
- Expressed now as the subscriber being closed, which the observable can always
  answer.
- The hook had no tests at all, which is why this survived. Four now, and the
  capture stub they need is in the shared factories rather than hand-rolled.
- One counts emissions across twenty animation frames and expects one: the
  redraw cost AGENTS.md asks continuous drawing to account for.

src/components/useMicrophoneLevel.test.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2026 Element Creations Ltd.
+
+SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only OR LicenseRef-Element-Commercial
+Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
+*/
+
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, test } from "vitest";
+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.
+describe("useMicrophoneLevel", () => {
+  afterEach(restoreAudioCapture);
+
+  test("holds no capture while the meter is not shown", () => {
+    const capture = stubAudioCapture();
+
+    renderHook(() => useMicrophoneLevel("mic1", false));
+
+    expect(capture.getUserMedia).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  test("starts from nothing rather than the previous device's level", () => {
+    const capture = stubAudioCapture();
+
+    const { result, rerender } = renderHook(
+      ({ id }: { id: string }) => useMicrophoneLevel(id, true),
+      { initialProps: { id: "mic1" } },
+    );
+    capture.grant();
+
+    rerender({ id: "mic2" });
+
+    // No level carried over: the meter reads the new device or nothing at all.
+    expect(result.current).toEqual({ type: "level", level: 0 });
+  });
+});

src/components/useMicrophoneLevel.ts

@@ -6,109 +6,35 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
 */
 
 import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
-import { logger } from "matrix-js-sdk/lib/logger";
 
 import {
   type MicrophoneState,
-  segmentsForVolume,
+  observeMicrophoneState$,
-  smoothVolume,
 } from "../state/MicrophoneLevel";
 
+const IDLE: MicrophoneState = { type: "level", level: 0 };
+
 /**
  * Reads the live input level of a microphone, while `active`.
  *
- * Capture is scoped to the caller being on screen: the meter only exists while
+ * A bridge and nothing else: the capture, its lifetime and the maths belong to
- * the menu that shows it is open, so nothing holds a second capture of the
+ * {@link observeMicrophoneState$}. Scoped to `active` so the device is held
- * device for the length of a call.
+ * only while whatever shows the meter is on screen, rather than for the length
- *
+ * of a call.
- * The level says whether the microphone is picking anything up, which is not
- * the same as whether the user is being heard. It keeps moving while muted, and
- * the mute control is what says nothing is transmitted.
  */
 export function useMicrophoneLevel(
   deviceId: string | undefined,
   active: boolean,
 ): MicrophoneState {
-  const [state, setState] = useState<MicrophoneState>({
+  const [state, setState] = useState<MicrophoneState>(IDLE);
-    type: "level",
-    level: 0,
-  });
 
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!active) return;
-
+    // Idle first, so a new device starts from nothing rather than from the
-    let stopped = false;
+    // level the previous one was reading.
-    let stream: MediaStream | undefined;
+    setState(IDLE);
-    let context: AudioContext | undefined;
+    const subscription = observeMicrophoneState$(deviceId).subscribe(setState);
-    let frame: number | undefined;
+    return (): void => subscription.unsubscribe();
-
-    const stop = (): void => {
-      stopped = true;
-      if (frame !== undefined) cancelAnimationFrame(frame);
-      stream?.getTracks().forEach((track) => track.stop());
-      void context?.close();
-    };
-
-    const start = async (): Promise<void> => {
-      stream = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({
-        audio:
-          deviceId === undefined ? true : { deviceId: { exact: deviceId } },
-      });
-      if (stopped) return;
-
-      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.
-      if (context.state === "suspended") await context.resume();
-      if (stopped) return;
-      const analyser = context.createAnalyser();
-      analyser.fftSize = 1024;
-      context.createMediaStreamSource(stream).connect(analyser);
-      const samples = new Uint8Array(analyser.fftSize);
-      let displayed = 0;
-      let previousFrame = performance.now();
-
-      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.
-        let sum = 0;
-        for (const sample of samples) {
-          const centred = (sample - 128) / 128;
-          sum += centred * centred;
-        }
-        const now = performance.now();
-        displayed = smoothVolume(
-          displayed,
-          Math.sqrt(sum / samples.length),
-          now - previousFrame,
-        );
-        previousFrame = now;
-        const level = segmentsForVolume(displayed);
-        setState((current) =>
-          current.type === "level" && current.level === level
-            ? current
-            : { type: "level", level },
-        );
-        frame = requestAnimationFrame(read);
-      };
-      read();
-    };
-
-    start().catch((e: unknown) => {
-      const name = e instanceof Error ? e.name : "";
-      if (name === "NotAllowedError" || name === "SecurityError") {
-        setState({ type: "permission-denied" });
-      } else if (name === "NotFoundError" || name === "OverconstrainedError") {
-        setState({ type: "no-device" });
-      } else {
-        logger.error("Could not read the microphone level", e);
-        setState({ type: "no-device" });
-      }
-    });
-
-    return stop;
   }, [deviceId, active]);
 
   return state;

src/state/MicrophoneLevel.test.ts

@@ -5,15 +5,17 @@ SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only OR LicenseRef-Element-Commercial
 Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
 */
 
-import { describe, expect, test } from "vitest";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, test, vi } from "vitest";
 
 import {
   ATTACK_MS,
   METER_SEGMENTS,
+  observeMicrophoneState$,
   RELEASE_MS,
   segmentsForVolume,
   smoothVolume,
 } from "./MicrophoneLevel";
+import { restoreAudioCapture, stubAudioCapture } from "../utils/test";
 
 describe("segmentsForVolume", () => {
   test("shows nothing for silence", () => {
@@ -88,3 +90,73 @@ describe("smoothVolume", () => {
     expect(smoothVolume(0.5, 1, 0)).toBe(0.5);
   });
 });
+
+describe("observeMicrophoneState$", () => {
+  afterEach(restoreAudioCapture);
+
+  test("releases a capture the browser grants after nobody is watching", async () => {
+    const capture = stubAudioCapture();
+
+    const subscription = observeMicrophoneState$("mic1").subscribe();
+    // The user gives up on the permission prompt and closes the menu, and only
+    // then does the browser hand the microphone over.
+    subscription.unsubscribe();
+    capture.grant();
+    await vi.waitFor(() => expect(capture.track.stop).toHaveBeenCalled());
+  });
+
+  test("releases the capture and the audio context when the subscription ends", async () => {
+    const capture = stubAudioCapture();
+
+    const subscription = observeMicrophoneState$("mic1").subscribe();
+    capture.grant();
+    await vi.waitFor(() => expect(capture.contexts).toHaveLength(1));
+
+    subscription.unsubscribe();
+
+    expect(capture.track.stop).toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(capture.contexts[0].close).toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  test("tells denied permission and a missing device apart", async () => {
+    for (const [name, expected] of [
+      ["NotAllowedError", "permission-denied"],
+      ["NotFoundError", "no-device"],
+    ] as const) {
+      const capture = stubAudioCapture();
+      capture.getUserMedia.mockRejectedValue(named(new Error(name), name));
+
+      const seen: string[] = [];
+      const subscription = observeMicrophoneState$("mic1").subscribe((state) =>
+        seen.push(state.type),
+      );
+      await vi.waitFor(() => expect(seen).toContain(expected));
+      subscription.unsubscribe();
+      restoreAudioCapture();
+    }
+  });
+
+  test("says nothing on a frame that did not change the level", async () => {
+    const capture = stubAudioCapture();
+
+    let emissions = 0;
+    const subscription = observeMicrophoneState$("mic1").subscribe(
+      () => emissions++,
+    );
+    capture.grant();
+    await vi.waitFor(() => expect(emissions).toBe(1));
+
+    // The analyser is read every animation frame, but the meter has only
+    // METER_SEGMENTS steps: a steady signal must not redraw the meter.
+    capture.drawFrames(20);
+    expect(emissions).toBe(1);
+
+    subscription.unsubscribe();
+  });
+});
+
+/** An error with the `name` the browser would give it, not just a message. */
+function named(error: Error, name: string): Error {
+  error.name = name;
+  return error;
+}

src/state/MicrophoneLevel.ts

@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only OR LicenseRef-Element-Commercial
 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.
  *
@@ -24,6 +27,112 @@ export type MicrophoneState =
  */
 export const METER_SEGMENTS = 24;
 
+/**
+ * Observes what a microphone is picking up, as the meter should show it.
+ *
+ * Subscribing opens the device and unsubscribing releases it, so it is held for
+ * exactly as long as something is watching — the menu, and not the call.
+ *
+ * Opens a capture of its own rather than reading the track the call already
+ * holds. That is a shortcut, recorded as S1 in the feature spec: the pre-join
+ * screen freezes its audio track to the device selected when it mounted, so a
+ * meter fed from that track could not follow the picker.
+ *
+ * The level says whether the microphone is picking anything up, which is not
+ * the same as whether the user is being heard: it keeps reading while muted,
+ * and the mute control is what says nothing is transmitted.
+ */
+export function observeMicrophoneState$(
+  deviceId: string | undefined,
+): Observable<MicrophoneState> {
+  return new Observable<MicrophoneState>((subscriber) => {
+    let stream: MediaStream | undefined;
+    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.
+    const release = (): void => {
+      if (frame !== undefined) cancelAnimationFrame(frame);
+      stream?.getTracks().forEach((track) => track.stop());
+      void context?.close();
+      frame = undefined;
+      stream = undefined;
+      context = undefined;
+    };
+
+    const start = async (): Promise<void> => {
+      stream = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({
+        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.
+      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.
+      if (context.state === "suspended") await context.resume();
+      if (subscriber.closed) return release();
+
+      const analyser = context.createAnalyser();
+      analyser.fftSize = 1024;
+      context.createMediaStreamSource(stream).connect(analyser);
+      const samples = new Uint8Array(analyser.fftSize);
+      let displayed = 0;
+      let previousFrame = performance.now();
+
+      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.
+        let sum = 0;
+        for (const sample of samples) {
+          const centred = (sample - 128) / 128;
+          sum += centred * centred;
+        }
+        const now = performance.now();
+        displayed = smoothVolume(
+          displayed,
+          Math.sqrt(sum / samples.length),
+          now - previousFrame,
+        );
+        previousFrame = now;
+        subscriber.next({ type: "level", level: segmentsForVolume(displayed) });
+        frame = requestAnimationFrame(read);
+      };
+      read();
+    };
+
+    start().catch((e: unknown) => 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.
+    distinctUntilChanged(
+      (a, b) =>
+        a.type === b.type &&
+        (a.type !== "level" || b.type !== "level" || a.level === b.level),
+    ),
+  );
+}
+
+/** What a failure to open the microphone means for the person using it. */
+function stateForFailure(e: unknown): MicrophoneState {
+  const name = e instanceof Error ? e.name : "";
+  if (name === "NotAllowedError" || name === "SecurityError")
+    return { type: "permission-denied" };
+  if (name === "NotFoundError" || name === "OverconstrainedError")
+    return { type: "no-device" };
+  logger.error("Could not read the microphone level", e);
+  return { type: "no-device" };
+}
+
 /**
  * Loudness below which the microphone is treated as picking up nothing.
  *

src/utils/test.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { map, type Observable, of, type SchedulerLike } from "rxjs";
 import { type RunHelpers, TestScheduler } from "rxjs/testing";
 import {
   expect,
+  type Mock,
   type MockedObject,
   type MockInstance,
   onTestFinished,
@@ -590,3 +591,92 @@ export class MockConnection extends Connection {
   public async start(): Promise<void> {}
   public async stop(): Promise<void> {}
 }
+
+export interface StubbedCapture {
+  getUserMedia: Mock;
+  /** Hands the microphone over, 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. */
+  drawFrames: (count: 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.
+ */
+export function stubAudioCapture(): StubbedCapture {
+  const track = { stop: vi.fn() };
+  const contexts: { close: Mock }[] = [];
+  let grant = (): void => {};
+  const granted = new Promise<MediaStream>((resolve) => {
+    grant = (): void =>
+      resolve({ getTracks: () => [track] } as unknown as MediaStream);
+  });
+
+  const frames: FrameRequestCallback[] = [];
+  vi.stubGlobal("requestAnimationFrame", (callback: FrameRequestCallback) => {
+    frames.push(callback);
+    return frames.length;
+  });
+  vi.stubGlobal("cancelAnimationFrame", vi.fn());
+  vi.stubGlobal(
+    "AudioContext",
+    class {
+      public readonly state = "running";
+      public readonly close = vi.fn();
+      public constructor() {
+        contexts.push(this);
+      }
+      public createAnalyser(): object {
+        return {
+          fftSize: 1024,
+          // Digital silence, which is the midpoint of the range and not zero:
+          // a buffer left at zero reads as a full-scale waveform.
+          getByteTimeDomainData: (samples: Uint8Array): void => {
+            samples.fill(128);
+          },
+        };
+      }
+      public createMediaStreamSource(): object {
+        return { connect: (): void => {} };
+      }
+    },
+  );
+  // Only this property: replacing navigator wholesale drops the getters on its
+  // prototype, such as userAgent.
+  Object.defineProperty(navigator, "mediaDevices", {
+    configurable: true,
+    value: { getUserMedia: vi.fn().mockReturnValue(granted) },
+  });
+
+  return {
+    getUserMedia: navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia as unknown as Mock,
+    grant: () => grant(),
+    track,
+    contexts,
+    drawFrames: (count): void => {
+      for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) frames.shift()?.(i);
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+const realMediaDevices = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(
+  navigator,
+  "mediaDevices",
+);
+
+/** Undoes {@link stubAudioCapture}. */
+export function restoreAudioCapture(): void {
+  vi.unstubAllGlobals();
+  if (realMediaDevices === undefined) {
+    Reflect.deleteProperty(navigator, "mediaDevices");
+  } else {
+    Object.defineProperty(navigator, "mediaDevices", realMediaDevices);
+  }
+}