iPhone 17 mono audio randomly switches to stereo with hearing aids

I exclusively use mono audio on my phone as I get easily disoriented with stereo audio when listening through my hearing aids. I recently upgraded to an iPhone 17 and have been struggling with a new issue. At random, the audio will switch to stereo. There is no indication in the settings that it is switching, but when I toggle it to switch it back to stereo there is no change in the audio. After a minute or so of me toggling it on and off and restarting whatever I was listening to, the mono audio will sometimes work again. I have tried reseting my phone as well as disconnecting and reconnecting the hearing aids. It happens indiscriminately with both videos, calls, and music. It may also be an iOS 26.6 issue that I never encountered before because I couldn't update my old phone due to storage.