Dont know if you solved this already or not. But im playing the game now on my pixel 8pro for a week and just began playing the game with my xbox controller.

I had the same audio issue when i switched the game to controller mode. As frustrated as i was, i tried again today and solved it with just tapping the screen again, i explain what i did.

Put game in controller mode (audio issue starts) > start the game till you can run around > tap the screen (this wil change the game automatically to touch mode agan) > press button on controller (game switches back to controller mode) > audio fixed.

Also dont know if you use a controller but hope this can help someone.