Voiceover describing images. annoying when using what's app

In What's app, when I select an audio message to be played, voiceover attempts to describe the image after I double tap, such as "Possible person, possible text"
This causes the beginning of the message to be unintelligible because voiceover is stepping on it.
The workaround for me is to stop speech, then double tap, but surely there is a more elegant way.
I made sure image descriptions was off in voiceover settings, but no dice.
Any suggestions?
Thanks much.