ExoPlayer 2.18 sets up skipping silences when it opens the audio, so the engine now gets both settings before prepare, and turning the option on or off while an episode plays reopens it at the same spot. Tested on the Xperia J against test/mock_abs.py: 2x speed, silences skipped, the toggle mid-play, notification buttons. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>