diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b67cbaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+public/empty.mp3 filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
diff --git a/public/empty.mp3 b/public/empty.mp3
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..458f2e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/empty.mp3
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:98875890b2f83542ccc5a791c22669b7372ea3bde7349d284feb3d937dce3d95
+size 4412
diff --git a/src/components/AudioArea.vue b/src/components/AudioArea.vue
index f9b45a6..4bf0df5 100644
--- a/src/components/AudioArea.vue
+++ b/src/components/AudioArea.vue
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
     // Use the global audio loading queue to throttle concurrent loads
     const preloadAudio = (src: string) => {
       console.debug(`[AUDIOAREA] Queueing audio for preload: ${src}`);
-      audioSrc.value = "";
+      audioSrc.value = "empty.mp3";
 
       queueAudioForLoading(
         src,