(Android) Voice notes stop playing in background

On my Pixel 6, voice messages from WhatsApp will stop playing after some seemingly random amount of time, if I switch to another app after pressing play.

If I switch back to WhatsApp, they resume playing.

Even weirder - sometimes after a minute or two they will resume playing on their own - even if I haven't refocused the app.

This has been going on for months. I'm on android 14. It's driving me crazy!

Does anyone here know what could be the culprit? I have allow background use turned on in battery settings.

Thanks!