iTunes and airplay volume issue between songs

I have multiple Airplay speakers and use iTunes as the player to broadcast on these, periodically the volume will be minimised from the start of the next song which will continue to play, just with no sound, on multiple speakers whilst they continue to display the current song title . The volume bar remains unaltered and if I scoot the progress bar back a few seconds, sound will return. This has started since iOS 18 and happens a few times every listening session, it does not occur over Bluetooth, is this a software with iOS 18. or hardware issue?