Google Assistant update breaks Assistant?

[WentOutForSmokes]

I'm using a Pixel 5a. Just got it. Hey Google works okay, and I get spoken results when I ask a question -- until I do the software update that Google keeps pushing on me for the assistant. Once I do that, I get no sound at all from the assistant, nothing, no matter which settings I turn on. A Google search says there is a setting at Google App > Settings > Google Assistant > Assistant > Voice and Speech, but that option isn't there on my Pixel. It wasn't there on my S21 Ultra, either, or my wife's S21+.

If I undo the update and reset the Google app to the factory version, everything starts working again. I still don't have the "boop" sound when the Assistant kicks on, even though those settings are turned on, but I can live without that I guess. But the whole point of the Assistant is to use it hands free without having to look at the screen (for me, anyway).

 

On my S21 I could just run the old version, but the Pixel will cut me off when I say Hey Google and tell me there's an update and it won't work until I do the update -- which breaks the sound on the Google Assistant. I've gone over the phone settings and Assistant settings multiple times and there's nothing I can see that would cause this.

Is the update from Google just broken? Am I missing something? Any help would be really appreciated.