diff --git a/e2e/seed.js b/e2e/seed.js
index a3f5a980..4a6752b9 100644
--- a/e2e/seed.js
+++ b/e2e/seed.js
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ require('fs').readFileSync('/proc/1/environ', 'utf8').split('\0').forEach(functi
 });
 
 var db = require('../src/db/database');
-var bcrypt = require('bcryptjs');
+// The app's own hasher, not bcrypt directly: production writes argon2id, and a
+// seeded account hashed any other way exercises a path real users do not take.
+var passwords = require('../src/utils/passwords');
 
 var TEST_DOMAIN = '@ped-ai.test';
 var PASSWORD = process.env.E2E_TEST_PASSWORD || 'E2E-testPassword123!';
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ async function seed(account) {
   if (email.slice(-TEST_DOMAIN.length) !== TEST_DOMAIN) {
     throw new Error('refusing to seed ' + email + ': only ' + TEST_DOMAIN + ' addresses may be seeded');
   }
-  var hash = await bcrypt.hash(PASSWORD, 12);
+  var hash = await passwords.hash(PASSWORD);
   var existing = await db.get('SELECT id, role, email_verified, disabled FROM users WHERE email = ?', [email]);
   if (!existing) {
     await db.run(
diff --git a/public/js/clinicalAssistant.js b/public/js/clinicalAssistant.js
index 3c3721d6..1db5b848 100644
--- a/public/js/clinicalAssistant.js
+++ b/public/js/clinicalAssistant.js
@@ -534,12 +534,16 @@ import {
 
     if (request && request.cancelled) return;
 
-    setBusy(false, 'Ready');
     lastAnswer = finalData.answer || finalData.markdown || '';
     lastSources = finalData.sources || finalData.citations || streamSources;
     replaceLoadingMessage(loading, lastAnswer, lastSources, finalData.suggestions || []);
     attachImageJobs(loading, messages[messages.length - 1], finalData.imageJobs || []);
     renderSources(lastSources);
+    // Last, not first. setBusy(false) announces assistant-answer-done, and
+    // firing it before lastAnswer was assigned meant every listener — voice
+    // mode among them — was handed the *previous* answer. It now fires once the
+    // answer exists both in that variable and on the page.
+    setBusy(false, 'Ready');
   }
 
   function renderStreamingAnswerHtml(text, sources) {
@@ -1260,7 +1264,32 @@ import {
     var detail = (e && e.detail) || {};
     if (detail.isError) { if (status) status.textContent = 'Answer failed — tap to speak'; return; }
     if (status) status.textContent = 'Speaking…';
-    speakAnswerVoice(String(detail.answer || ''));
+    speakAnswerVoice(renderedAnswerText() || String(detail.answer || ''));
+  }
+
+  // What the page shows, which is already the answer with its markup rendered
+  // away — headings are headings, bold is bold, a table is a table. Reading
+  // that is both simpler and more faithful than unpicking the markdown, and it
+  // cannot drift from what the reader is looking at.
+  //
+  // The markdown remains the fallback for the case where the bubble is not
+  // found, and is reduced first, because raw markdown read aloud is worse than
+  // silence.
+  function renderedAnswerText() {
+    var wrap = document.getElementById('assistant-messages');
+    if (!wrap) return '';
+    var rows = wrap.querySelectorAll('.assistant-msg.assistant');
+    var last = rows[rows.length - 1];
+    if (!last || last.classList.contains('assistant-loading-msg')) return '';
+    var bubble = last.querySelector('.assistant-bubble');
+    if (!bubble) return '';
+    // A clone, so removing the parts that are not the answer does not touch the
+    // page: the action buttons, the sources list and the follow-up suggestions
+    // are all inside the bubble and none of them is worth reading out.
+    var copy = bubble.cloneNode(true);
+    copy.querySelectorAll('.assistant-msg-actions, .assistant-sources, .assistant-suggestions, button, pre, table')
+      .forEach(function (node) { node.remove(); });
+    return String(copy.innerText || copy.textContent || '').replace(/\n{2,}/g, '\n').trim();
   }
 
   // What a person would read out, not what the model wrote. Passed raw, a
diff --git a/test/assistant-voice-mode.test.js b/test/assistant-voice-mode.test.js
index 9ec62fd2..bcfd48e6 100644
--- a/test/assistant-voice-mode.test.js
+++ b/test/assistant-voice-mode.test.js
@@ -40,7 +40,33 @@ test('ending the call stops the voice', () => {
   assert.match(src, /conversationMode\.speaking = audio;/);
 });
 
-test('the answer is read, not its markup', () => {
+test('the answer is read only once it exists', () => {
+  // setBusy(false) announces assistant-answer-done, and it used to run before
+  // lastAnswer was assigned — so every listener, voice mode included, was handed
+  // the previous answer. Tested by position, because that is the whole bug.
+  const body = src.slice(src.indexOf('if (request && request.cancelled) return;'));
+  const assigned = body.indexOf("lastAnswer = finalData.answer");
+  const rendered = body.indexOf('replaceLoadingMessage(loading, lastAnswer');
+  const announced = body.indexOf("setBusy(false, 'Ready')");
+  assert.ok(assigned < announced, 'the answer is assigned before it is announced');
+  assert.ok(rendered < announced, 'and rendered before it is announced');
+});
+
+test('voice mode reads what the page shows', () => {
+  // The rendered bubble is the answer with its markup already resolved, so
+  // reading it is both simpler than unpicking markdown and impossible to drift
+  // from what the reader is looking at.
+  assert.match(src, /function renderedAnswerText\(\)/);
+  assert.match(src, /speakAnswerVoice\(renderedAnswerText\(\) \|\| String\(detail\.answer \|\| ''\)\)/);
+  // Never the bubble that is still thinking.
+  assert.match(src, /last\.classList\.contains\('assistant-loading-msg'\)\) return '';/);
+  // A clone: the things that are not the answer are removed from a copy, not
+  // from the page.
+  assert.match(src, /var copy = bubble\.cloneNode\(true\);/);
+  assert.match(src, /assistant-msg-actions, \.assistant-sources, \.assistant-suggestions, button, pre, table/);
+});
+
+test('the markdown fallback is still reduced before it is spoken', () => {
   // The raw answer went straight to the speaker. It is markdown, and a browser
   // voice reads "#" and "**" aloud or stumbles over them.
   assert.match(src, /var text = speakableText\(markdown\);/);