diff --git a/scripts/system/pal.js b/scripts/system/pal.js
index c0450a0b94..1f37af63e2 100644
--- a/scripts/system/pal.js
+++ b/scripts/system/pal.js
@@ -422,7 +422,7 @@ var LOUDNESS_FLOOR = 11.0;
 var LOUDNESS_SCALE = 2.8 / 5.0;
 var LOG2 = Math.log(2.0);
 var AUDIO_LEVEL_UPDATE_INTERVAL_MS = 100; // 10hz for now (change this and change the AVERAGING_RATIO too)
-var accumulatedLevels = {};
+var myData = {}; // we're not includied in ExtendedOverlay.get.
 
 function getAudioLevel(id) {
     // the VU meter should work similarly to the one in AvatarInputs: log scale, exponentially averaged
@@ -430,13 +430,18 @@ function getAudioLevel(id) {
     // of updating (the latter for efficiency too).
     var avatar = AvatarList.getAvatar(id);
     var audioLevel = 0.0;
+    var data = id ? ExtendedOverlay.get(id) : myData;
+    if (!data) {
+        print('no data for', id);
+        return audioLevel;
+    }
 
     // we will do exponential moving average by taking some the last loudness and averaging
-    accumulatedLevels[id] = AVERAGING_RATIO * (accumulatedLevels[id] || 0) + (1 - AVERAGING_RATIO) * (avatar.audioLoudness);
+    data.accumulatedLevel = AVERAGING_RATIO * (data.accumulatedLevel || 0) + (1 - AVERAGING_RATIO) * (avatar.audioLoudness);
 
     // add 1 to insure we don't go log() and hit -infinity.  Math.log is
     // natural log, so to get log base 2, just divide by ln(2).
-    var logLevel = Math.log(accumulatedLevels[id] + 1) / LOG2;
+    var logLevel = Math.log(data.accumulatedLevel + 1) / LOG2;
 
     if (logLevel <= LOUDNESS_FLOOR) {
         audioLevel = logLevel / LOUDNESS_FLOOR * LOUDNESS_SCALE;
@@ -455,7 +460,7 @@ function getAudioLevel(id) {
 Script.setInterval(function () {
     if (pal.visible) {
         var param = {};
-        AvatarList.getAvatarIdentifiers().sort().forEach(function (id) {
+        AvatarList.getAvatarIdentifiers().forEach(function (id) {
             var level = getAudioLevel(id);
             // qml didn't like an object with null/empty string for a key, so...
             var userId = id || 0;