Tried reporting this to apple support.
First, as a note to all here, I am told support won't ever look at discussions.apple.com and would not be interested in reports and MeeToo's here. So it's completely useless to use this forum as not just they don't look at it, they won't look at it even if you try to point them to a documented issue.
So, I am told that apparently, the only way to get this fixed is that enough people report this to Apple Support.
And there lies the problem. It seems virtually impossible to break through and get this issue reported. They wanted me to uninstall all VPNs and device management and create a screen recording. I explained it's audio issue and won't be visible in the screen recording. I was told they can't create an issue without screen recording, that's the only way they can create a case. For a second I thought I was speaking to a poorly trained AI.
And this was third line support - not the first line you get on chat, nor the second line also on chat - this is the one that calls you. Unfortunately I had somebody who clearly has no clue what they are talking about and feel very threatened by the "dev team" and their requirements for bug reports. Yet at the same time, this person was managing to be incredibly condescending.
Now, being a pro developer since 1995 (**** I am old!), I tried patiently guiding this person but after going in circles I gave up in the end.
So yeah - if we want this fixed, we need to keep contacting support and reporting this issue. I for one will continue trying until I encounter somebody with a bit of intelligence to get the report submitted.