AirPod controls no longer working due to near-instant background refresh (I think?). Issue with "Background Sounds" possibly?

First off - LOVE PocketCasts. It is far and away my most used app and I use it across iPhone and desktop (mac). Thank you, developers!

Recently I've had an issue where if I use my airpods to control pause/play, I can't play it again because my phone seems to forget that I had PocketCasts active. I have to manually re-open the app to press play. I can pause with AirPods, but not play. This morning I paused it and almost instantly went to play it manually from the lcok screen, and the PocketCasts window disappeared under my finger and went to the blank ios "media player" thing with a play button but nothing else.

I think it may just be a hyperactive background refresh thing? Might have nothing to do with AirPods?

The only change I've made recently is adding "Background Sounds" for my tinnitus. But it seems to happen with or without background sounds on.

I recently updated to the newest ios, but this has been happening before and after.

Any advice for me? Thank you again!!!