diff --git a/src/lotus/lotusDenoise.ts b/src/lotus/lotusDenoise.ts
index e4702390..752e1271 100644
--- a/src/lotus/lotusDenoise.ts
+++ b/src/lotus/lotusDenoise.ts
@@ -101,8 +101,12 @@ export function startLotusDenoise(vm: CallViewModel): () => void {
   const roomListeners = new Map<LivekitRoom, () => void>();
   let rooms: LivekitRoom[] = [];
 
-  const sub = vm.livekitRoomItems$.subscribe((items) => {
-    const next = items.map((i) => i.livekitRoom);
+  // Drive activation off the LOCAL participant's connection(s), not
+  // `livekitRoomItems$` — that stream excludes the local participant and only
+  // surfaces rooms with ≥1 remote member, so it wouldn't denoise you while
+  // you're alone and is a fragile coupling to a remote-render concern.
+  const sub = vm.allConnections$.subscribe((data) => {
+    const next = data.getConnections().map((c) => c.livekitRoom);
     rooms = next;
     for (const [room, off] of roomListeners) {
       if (!next.includes(room)) {
diff --git a/src/lotus/lotusDenoiseProcessor.ts b/src/lotus/lotusDenoiseProcessor.ts
index 3600cd2b..ace2631b 100644
--- a/src/lotus/lotusDenoiseProcessor.ts
+++ b/src/lotus/lotusDenoiseProcessor.ts
@@ -64,18 +64,41 @@ const sampleRateFor = (model: LotusDenoiseModel): number =>
 
 // Cache fetched wasm per URL so a reconnect/device-switch doesn't re-download.
 const wasmCache = new Map<string, Promise<ArrayBuffer>>();
-function fetchWasm(url: string): Promise<ArrayBuffer> {
+async function fetchWasmUncached(url: string): Promise<ArrayBuffer> {
+  const r = await fetch(url);
+  if (!r.ok) throw new Error(`denoise wasm ${url} -> ${r.status}`);
+  return r.arrayBuffer();
+}
+async function fetchWasm(url: string): Promise<ArrayBuffer> {
   let p = wasmCache.get(url);
   if (!p) {
-    p = fetch(url).then((r) => {
-      if (!r.ok) throw new Error(`denoise wasm ${url} -> ${r.status}`);
-      return r.arrayBuffer();
-    });
+    p = fetchWasmUncached(url);
+    // Never cache a REJECTED fetch: a transient failure (e.g. a blip during a
+    // reconnect) must not permanently disable denoise for the whole session.
+    // Evict on failure so the next restart/device-switch retries.
+    void p.catch(() => wasmCache.delete(url));
     wasmCache.set(url, p);
   }
   return p;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Resume an AudioContext, but never block indefinitely. A suspended context can
+ * only resume after a user gesture; the denoise action can arrive via host
+ * postMessage (no gesture), so `resume()` may stay pending forever. Since this
+ * runs inside LiveKit's per-track change lock, a hung resume() would deadlock
+ * every later mute/unmute/device-switch. Race it against a timeout and proceed
+ * either way — the processor's `statechange` watcher resumes it once a gesture
+ * lands, and a still-suspended context degrades to (temporary) silence that the
+ * watcher heals, not a hang.
+ */
+async function resumeCtx(ctx: AudioContext, timeoutMs = 3_000): Promise<void> {
+  await Promise.race([
+    ctx.resume().catch(() => undefined),
+    new Promise<void>((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, timeoutMs)),
+  ]);
+}
+
 function supportsSimd(): boolean {
   try {
     // Minimal SIMD module (v128) — validates only where SIMD is supported.
@@ -123,6 +146,7 @@ export class LotusDenoiseProcessor
 
   private ctx?: AudioContext;
   private graph?: Graph;
+  private ctxStateHandler?: () => void;
 
   public constructor(private readonly config: LotusDenoiseConfig) {}
 
@@ -152,38 +176,63 @@ export class LotusDenoiseProcessor
     this.disposeGraph(this.graph);
     this.graph = undefined;
     this.processedTrack = undefined;
-    if (this.ctx && this.ctx.state !== "closed")
-      await this.ctx.close().catch(() => undefined);
+    await this.closeContext();
+  }
+
+  /** Remove the state watcher and close the owned context, if any. */
+  private async closeContext(): Promise<void> {
+    const ctx = this.ctx;
+    if (!ctx) return;
+    if (this.ctxStateHandler) {
+      ctx.removeEventListener("statechange", this.ctxStateHandler);
+      this.ctxStateHandler = undefined;
+    }
     this.ctx = undefined;
+    if (ctx.state !== "closed") await ctx.close().catch(() => undefined);
   }
 
   /** Create (once) the model-rate context + register the flat worklet modules. */
   private async ensureContext(): Promise<void> {
     const rate = sampleRateFor(this.config.model);
     if (this.ctx && this.ctx.state !== "closed" && this.ctx.sampleRate === rate) {
-      if (this.ctx.state === "suspended") await this.ctx.resume();
+      if (this.ctx.state === "suspended") await resumeCtx(this.ctx);
       return;
     }
-    if (this.ctx && this.ctx.state !== "closed")
-      await this.ctx.close().catch(() => undefined);
+    await this.closeContext();
 
     const ctx = new AudioContext({ sampleRate: rate });
-    if (ctx.sampleRate !== rate) {
+    try {
+      if (ctx.sampleRate !== rate)
+        throw new Error(`denoise: got ${ctx.sampleRate}Hz, need ${rate}Hz`);
+
+      // Auto-resume if the OS/browser suspends the context mid-call (mobile
+      // backgrounding, audio interruption): the dest node otherwise emits
+      // silence with no recovery. Only resume while a graph is live.
+      const onStateChange = (): void => {
+        if (ctx.state === "suspended" && this.graph)
+          void ctx.resume().catch(() => undefined);
+      };
+      ctx.addEventListener("statechange", onStateChange);
+
+      // Flat models register via addModule here; DTLN/DeepFilterNet bring their
+      // own processor via the dynamic-imported helper (see buildMlNode).
+      if (this.config.model === "rnnoise" || this.config.model === "speex")
+        await ctx.audioWorklet.addModule(
+          this.config.assetBase + FLAT[this.config.model].script,
+        );
+      if (this.config.gate)
+        await ctx.audioWorklet.addModule(this.config.assetBase + GATE.script);
+      // The action can arrive via host postMessage, not a gesture in this
+      // iframe, so the context can start suspended — resume without hanging.
+      if (ctx.state === "suspended") await resumeCtx(ctx);
+
+      this.ctx = ctx;
+      this.ctxStateHandler = onStateChange;
+    } catch (e) {
+      // Don't leak a half-initialised context on any failure path.
       await ctx.close().catch(() => undefined);
-      throw new Error(`denoise: got ${ctx.sampleRate}Hz, need ${rate}Hz`);
+      throw e;
     }
-    // Flat models register via addModule here; DTLN/DeepFilterNet bring their
-    // own processor via the dynamic-imported helper (see buildMlNode).
-    if (this.config.model === "rnnoise" || this.config.model === "speex")
-      await ctx.audioWorklet.addModule(
-        this.config.assetBase + FLAT[this.config.model].script,
-      );
-    if (this.config.gate)
-      await ctx.audioWorklet.addModule(this.config.assetBase + GATE.script);
-    // The action arrives via host postMessage, not a gesture in this iframe, so
-    // the context can start suspended.
-    if (ctx.state === "suspended") await ctx.resume();
-    this.ctx = ctx;
   }
 
   private async buildGraph(track: MediaStreamTrack): Promise<Graph> {