diff --git a/services/discord-gateway/src/modules/command-handler/voice.handler.ts b/services/discord-gateway/src/modules/command-handler/voice.handler.ts
index bdd8e2f2..2bca7674 100644
--- a/services/discord-gateway/src/modules/command-handler/voice.handler.ts
+++ b/services/discord-gateway/src/modules/command-handler/voice.handler.ts
@@ -153,6 +153,22 @@ export class VoiceHandler {
       };
     }
 
+    // Double-check: verify the voice controller also reports connected
+    if (this.voiceController) {
+      const vcStatus = this.voiceController.getStatus();
+      if (!vcStatus.connected) {
+        this.logger.warn(
+          "Player reports connected but voice controller says disconnected — stale state",
+        );
+        return {
+          id: cmd.id,
+          success: false,
+          data: null,
+          error: "Voice channel connection is stale — reconnect first",
+        };
+      }
+    }
+
     try {
       // IMPORTANT: transmitter needs its OWN Redis client because it calls
       // .subscribe() which converts the connection to subscriber mode.  Reusing
diff --git a/services/discord-gateway/src/modules/voice-recording/transmitter.ts b/services/discord-gateway/src/modules/voice-recording/transmitter.ts
index ae2319e3..24bd2f3b 100644
--- a/services/discord-gateway/src/modules/voice-recording/transmitter.ts
+++ b/services/discord-gateway/src/modules/voice-recording/transmitter.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@ export class VoiceTransmitter {
   private gate = Promise.resolve();
   /** Set true before sending SIGTERM so exit handler knows it's intentional */
   private _expectedExit = false;
+  /** Auto-stop timer: if no PCM received for this long, stop transmitter */
+  private _activityTimer: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | null = null;
+  /** How long to wait without PCM before auto-stopping (10s) */
+  private static readonly ACTIVITY_TIMEOUT_MS = 10_000;
+  /** Max stderr bytes to retain for error reporting */
+  private static readonly MAX_STDERR_BYTES = 4096;
 
   /**
    * Start listening for PCM audio data from Redis and stream to Discord
@@ -116,10 +122,14 @@ export class VoiceTransmitter {
         this.pcmStream.pipe(this.ffmpegProcess.stdin);
       }
 
-      // Log FFmpeg stderr for debugging
+      // Log FFmpeg stderr for debugging (cap to prevent unbounded growth)
       const stderrChunks: Buffer[] = [];
+      let stderrLen = 0;
       this.ffmpegProcess.stderr?.on("data", (chunk: Buffer) => {
-        stderrChunks.push(chunk);
+        stderrLen += chunk.length;
+        if (stderrLen <= VoiceTransmitter.MAX_STDERR_BYTES) {
+          stderrChunks.push(chunk);
+        }
       });
 
       this.ffmpegProcess.on("error", (err) => {
@@ -136,8 +146,11 @@ export class VoiceTransmitter {
           const stderr = Buffer.concat(stderrChunks).toString();
           logger.error(
             { code, stderr: stderr.slice(-500) },
-            "FFmpeg exited with error",
+            "FFmpeg exited with error — auto-stopping transmitter",
           );
+          // FFmpeg crashed — auto-stop to prevent silent audio loss.
+          // Fire-and-forget; stop() serialises with the gate.
+          void this.stop();
         } else {
           logger.debug({ code }, "FFmpeg process exited");
         }
@@ -163,6 +176,8 @@ export class VoiceTransmitter {
         { channel: this.TRANSMIT_CHANNEL },
         "Subscribed to transmit channel",
       );
+      // Start activity timer — will auto-stop if no PCM arrives within timeout
+      this.resetActivityTimer();
 
       this.redisSub.on("message", (channel, message) => {
         if (
@@ -178,6 +193,8 @@ export class VoiceTransmitter {
             const pcmBuffer = Buffer.from(data.buffer, "base64");
             const stream = this.pcmStream;
             const canContinue = stream.write(pcmBuffer);
+            // Reset activity timer — PCM is flowing
+            this.resetActivityTimer();
             // Backpressure: queue until drain (cap to prevent memory leak)
             if (!canContinue) {
               if (this.backpressureQueue.length >= VoiceTransmitter.MAX_QUEUE) {
@@ -224,6 +241,30 @@ export class VoiceTransmitter {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Reset the voice activity timer. Called on every PCM chunk received.
+   * If no chunks arrive for ACTIVITY_TIMEOUT_MS, auto-stop the transmitter
+   * to prevent dead air and wasted resources.
+   */
+  private resetActivityTimer(): void {
+    this.clearActivityTimer();
+    this._activityTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+      if (!this.isActive) return;
+      logger.warn(
+        { timeoutMs: VoiceTransmitter.ACTIVITY_TIMEOUT_MS },
+        "Voice activity timeout — no PCM received, auto-stopping transmitter",
+      );
+      void this.stop();
+    }, VoiceTransmitter.ACTIVITY_TIMEOUT_MS);
+  }
+
+  private clearActivityTimer(): void {
+    if (this._activityTimer !== null) {
+      clearTimeout(this._activityTimer);
+      this._activityTimer = null;
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Stop transmitting and clean up resources
    */
@@ -246,6 +287,7 @@ export class VoiceTransmitter {
 
       this.isActive = false;
 
+      this.clearActivityTimer();
       this.backpressureQueue = [];
 
       if (this.pcmStream) {
diff --git a/services/frontend/src/lib/audio/pcm-player.ts b/services/frontend/src/lib/audio/pcm-player.ts
index 865fd688..7ad29b12 100644
--- a/services/frontend/src/lib/audio/pcm-player.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/src/lib/audio/pcm-player.ts
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ export class PcmPlayer {
       ring.write++;
     }
     // Overflow guard: never let the ring lag more than RING_LEN behind.
+    // This handles both normal drift and extreme backpressure scenarios.
     const lag = ring.write - ring.readPos;
     if (lag > RING_LEN - 4096) {
       ring.readPos = ring.write - RING_LEN + 4096;
diff --git a/services/frontend/src/lib/ws/context.tsx b/services/frontend/src/lib/ws/context.tsx
index 833f23a3..58fa62c9 100644
--- a/services/frontend/src/lib/ws/context.tsx
+++ b/services/frontend/src/lib/ws/context.tsx
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import {
   useRef,
   useState,
 } from "react";
+import { useSWRConfig } from "swr";
 import { toast } from "@/components/primitives";
 import { WsConnection } from "./connection";
 import type { PcmChunk, WsEventHandler, WsEventType, WsStatus } from "./types";
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ export function WsProvider({
 }) {
   const connRef = useRef<WsConnection | null>(null);
   const [status, setStatus] = useState<WsStatus>("disconnected");
+  const { mutate } = useSWRConfig();
   // Tracks whether we've ever been connected — used to suppress the
   // "reconnecting" toast on initial page load.
   const wasConnected = useRef(false);
@@ -95,6 +97,9 @@ export function WsProvider({
         wasConnected.current = false;
       } else if (s === "connected") {
         wasConnected.current = true;
+        // After reconnect, force-refetch voice status immediately so
+        // the UI converges faster instead of waiting up to 4s for SWR poll.
+        void mutate(["voice-status"]);
       } else if (s === "error" && !wasConnected.current) {
         toast({
           title: "Connection error",
@@ -121,7 +126,7 @@ export function WsProvider({
       unsubEvent();
     };
     // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
-  }, [url, handleBinaryEvent, handleJsonEvent]);
+  }, [url, handleBinaryEvent, handleJsonEvent, mutate]);
 
   const subscribe = useCallback(
     <E extends WsEventType>(_eventType: E, handler: WsEventHandler<E>) => {