From 02db9c1ebb9c185b972b0e7811eae55f8d9469c5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: talksik <patel.arjun50@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2026 13:31:11 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] fix: audio bar buggy

---
 js/src/components/audio/audio-level-bars.tsx | 75 ++++++++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 60 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/js/src/components/audio/audio-level-bars.tsx b/js/src/components/audio/audio-level-bars.tsx
index e37289f..a333a83 100644
--- a/js/src/components/audio/audio-level-bars.tsx
+++ b/js/src/components/audio/audio-level-bars.tsx
@@ -1,16 +1,33 @@
-import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
+import { useEffect, useRef } from "react";
 
 interface AudioLevelBarsProps {
   sourceNode: AudioNode;
 }
 
+const BAR_COUNT = 3;
+const MIN_HEIGHT_PX = 6;
+const MAX_HEIGHT_PX = 48;
+
+// dB scale
+const NOISE_FLOOR_DB = -50;
+const DB_RANGE = -NOISE_FLOOR_DB; // 50dB dynamic range
+
+// Asymmetric smoothing time constants
+const ATTACK_MS = 30;
+const RELEASE_MS = 300;
+
+// Bar activation thresholds on the 0..1 normalized dB scale
+const BAR_THRESHOLDS = [0.0, 0.15, 0.35];
+
 /**
  * 3-bar VU meter that visualizes audio levels from any AudioNode source.
  * Works with both live MediaStream sources and MediaElement sources.
+ *
+ * Uses direct DOM manipulation with exponential smoothing on a dB scale
+ * for smooth, jitter-free animation independent of frame rate.
  */
 export function AudioLevelBars({ sourceNode }: AudioLevelBarsProps) {
-  const [levels, setLevels] = useState([0, 0, 0]);
-  const rafRef = useRef<number>(0);
+  const barRefs = useRef<(HTMLDivElement | null)[]>([]);
 
   useEffect(() => {
     const ctx = sourceNode.context as AudioContext;
@@ -27,7 +44,15 @@ export function AudioLevelBars({ sourceNode }: AudioLevelBarsProps) {
 
     const dataArray = new Uint8Array(analyser.frequencyBinCount);
 
+    let smoothedLevel = 0;
+    let lastTime = performance.now();
+    let rafId = 0;
+
     function tick() {
+      const now = performance.now();
+      const dt = now - lastTime;
+      lastTime = now;
+
       analyser.getByteTimeDomainData(dataArray);
 
       // Compute RMS of waveform (128 = silence baseline)
@@ -38,20 +63,37 @@ export function AudioLevelBars({ sourceNode }: AudioLevelBarsProps) {
       }
       const rms = Math.sqrt(sumSquares / dataArray.length);
 
-      // VU meter: 3 bars with staggered thresholds
-      // Typical speech RMS is ~0.02-0.15 from time-domain data
-      const bar0 = Math.min(1, rms * 10);
-      const bar1 = Math.max(0, Math.min(1, (rms - 0.02) * 8));
-      const bar2 = Math.max(0, Math.min(1, (rms - 0.06) * 6));
-      setLevels([bar0, bar1, bar2]);
+      // Convert to dB, clamp to noise floor, normalize to 0..1
+      const db = rms > 0 ? 20 * Math.log10(rms) : NOISE_FLOOR_DB;
+      const normalizedDb = Math.max(0, (db - NOISE_FLOOR_DB) / DB_RANGE);
 
-      rafRef.current = requestAnimationFrame(tick);
+      // Asymmetric exponential smoothing (frame-rate independent)
+      const timeConstant =
+        normalizedDb > smoothedLevel ? ATTACK_MS : RELEASE_MS;
+      const alpha = 1 - Math.exp(-dt / timeConstant);
+      smoothedLevel += alpha * (normalizedDb - smoothedLevel);
+
+      // Update bar heights via direct DOM writes
+      for (let i = 0; i < BAR_COUNT; i++) {
+        const el = barRefs.current[i];
+        if (!el) continue;
+
+        const threshold = BAR_THRESHOLDS[i];
+        const barLevel =
+          smoothedLevel <= threshold
+            ? 0
+            : Math.min(1, (smoothedLevel - threshold) / (1 - threshold));
+        const height = MIN_HEIGHT_PX + barLevel * (MAX_HEIGHT_PX - MIN_HEIGHT_PX);
+        el.style.height = `${height}px`;
+      }
+
+      rafId = requestAnimationFrame(tick);
     }
 
-    rafRef.current = requestAnimationFrame(tick);
+    rafId = requestAnimationFrame(tick);
 
     return () => {
-      cancelAnimationFrame(rafRef.current);
+      cancelAnimationFrame(rafId);
       try {
         sourceNode.disconnect(analyser);
         analyser.disconnect(silentGain);
@@ -64,11 +106,14 @@ export function AudioLevelBars({ sourceNode }: AudioLevelBarsProps) {
 
   return (
     <div className="flex items-end gap-1.5">
-      {levels.map((level, i) => (
+      {Array.from({ length: BAR_COUNT }, (_, i) => (
         <div
           key={i}
-          className="w-1.5 rounded-full bg-green-400 transition-all duration-75"
-          style={{ height: `${Math.max(6, level * 48)}px` }}
+          ref={(el) => {
+            barRefs.current[i] = el;
+          }}
+          className="w-1.5 rounded-full bg-green-400"
+          style={{ height: `${MIN_HEIGHT_PX}px` }}
         />
       ))}
     </div>