Keypad entried not transmitting when AirPods are connected
I am on the phone and encounter a phone tree system that wants me to enter numbers for various options.....but while I can hear the touch tones through my airpods as I bring up the keypad and enter the numbers, the automated system does not hear/respond to my selections. It does not hear a 'wrong' entry, but rather simply keeps replaying the menu or asking for my selection over and over until I hang up, they hang up, or I take out the airpods and retry with sound through phone or phone speaker.
This has happened many times over years and different phones and versions of iOS.
Why does this happen? How can I stop it?
iPhone 12 mini, iOS 18