diff --git a/src/frontend/src/features/layout/components/GridLayout.tsx b/src/frontend/src/features/layout/components/GridLayout.tsx
index 226fc02e..1acef661 100644
--- a/src/frontend/src/features/layout/components/GridLayout.tsx
+++ b/src/frontend/src/features/layout/components/GridLayout.tsx
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { PaginationIndicator } from './PaginationIndicator'
 import { useGridLayout } from '../hooks/useGridLayout'
 import { PaginationControl } from './PaginationControl'
 import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react'
+import { useSpeakerPromotionTrigger } from '../hooks/useSpeakerPromotionTrigger'
 
 interface GridLayoutObserverProps {
   gridEl: React.RefObject<HTMLDivElement>
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ export function GridLayout({ tracks, ...props }: GridLayoutProps) {
     [props]
   )
   const pagination = usePagination(maxTiles, tracks)
+  useSpeakerPromotionTrigger(pagination.tracks)
 
   useSwipe(gridEl, {
     onLeftSwipe: pagination.nextPage,
diff --git a/src/frontend/src/features/layout/components/StageLayout.tsx b/src/frontend/src/features/layout/components/StageLayout.tsx
index 2330c9d4..cb9ba05c 100644
--- a/src/frontend/src/features/layout/components/StageLayout.tsx
+++ b/src/frontend/src/features/layout/components/StageLayout.tsx
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import {
   log,
   type TrackReferenceOrPlaceholder,
 } from '@livekit/components-core'
-import { RoomEvent, Track } from 'livekit-client'
+import { Track } from 'livekit-client'
 import { useSnapshot } from 'valtio'
 import { clearPinnedTrack, layoutStore, setPinnedTrack } from '@/stores/layout'
 import { useEffect, useRef } from 'react'
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ export const StageLayout = () => {
       { source: Track.Source.Camera, withPlaceholder: true },
       { source: Track.Source.ScreenShare, withPlaceholder: false },
     ],
-    { updateOnlyOn: [RoomEvent.ActiveSpeakersChanged], onlySubscribed: false }
+    { updateOnlyOn: [], onlySubscribed: false }
   )
 
   const screenShareTracks = tracks
diff --git a/src/frontend/src/features/layout/hooks/useSpeakerPromotionTrigger.ts b/src/frontend/src/features/layout/hooks/useSpeakerPromotionTrigger.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..53c01db3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/frontend/src/features/layout/hooks/useSpeakerPromotionTrigger.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+import { RoomEvent } from 'livekit-client'
+import type { Participant } from 'livekit-client'
+import type { TrackReferenceOrPlaceholder } from '@livekit/components-core'
+import { useRoomContext } from '@livekit/components-react'
+import { useEffect, useReducer, useRef } from 'react'
+
+/**
+ * Tripwire for speaker promotion.
+ *
+ * Listens to `RoomEvent.ActiveSpeakersChanged` imperatively and forces ONE
+ * re-render of the host component only when an active speaker has none of
+ * their tiles are within the visible span (`maxVisibleTiles`). That render
+ * re-runs `useVisualStableUpdate`, which reads live `participant.isSpeaking`
+ * state and performs the actual swap.
+ *
+ * Speakers already visible are ignored. Everything else costs zero React work.
+ *
+ * Requires the parent to NOT re-render on speaker events itself, i.e.
+ * `useTracks(..., { updateOnlyOn: [] })` upstream.
+ */
+export function useSpeakerPromotionTrigger(
+  sortedTiles: TrackReferenceOrPlaceholder[],
+) {
+  const room = useRoomContext()
+  const [, forceRender] = useReducer((n: number) => n + 1, 0)
+
+  // Refs so the listener reads current values without re-subscribing
+  // and without itself being a render dependency.
+  const tilesRef = useRef(sortedTiles)
+  tilesRef.current = sortedTiles
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const onActiveSpeakersChanged = (speakers: Participant[]) => {
+      const tiles = tilesRef.current
+      const hiddenSpeakerExists = speakers.some(
+        (speaker) =>
+          !tiles.some((t) => t.participant.identity === speaker.identity)
+      )
+      if (hiddenSpeakerExists) {
+        forceRender()
+      }
+    }
+    room.on(RoomEvent.ActiveSpeakersChanged, onActiveSpeakersChanged)
+    return () => {
+      room.off(RoomEvent.ActiveSpeakersChanged, onActiveSpeakersChanged)
+    }
+  }, [room])
+}