diff --git a/media/jni/soundpool/StreamManager.cpp b/media/jni/soundpool/StreamManager.cpp
index 52060f1..66fec1c 100644
--- a/media/jni/soundpool/StreamManager.cpp
+++ b/media/jni/soundpool/StreamManager.cpp
@@ -35,10 +35,9 @@
 // In R, we change this to true, as it is the correct way per SoundPool documentation.
 static constexpr bool kStealActiveStream_OldestFirst = true;
 
-// kPlayOnCallingThread = true prior to R.
 // Changing to false means calls to play() are almost instantaneous instead of taking around
 // ~10ms to launch the AudioTrack. It is perhaps 100x faster.
-static constexpr bool kPlayOnCallingThread = true;
+static constexpr bool kPlayOnCallingThread = false;
 
 // Amount of time for a StreamManager thread to wait before closing.
 static constexpr int64_t kWaitTimeBeforeCloseNs = 9 * NANOS_PER_SECOND;
diff --git a/media/jni/soundpool/StreamManager.h b/media/jni/soundpool/StreamManager.h
index adbab4b..340b49b 100644
--- a/media/jni/soundpool/StreamManager.h
+++ b/media/jni/soundpool/StreamManager.h
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
 public:
     JavaThread(std::function<void()> f, const char *name)
         : mF{std::move(f)} {
-        createThreadEtc(staticFunction, this, name);
+        createThreadEtc(staticFunction, this, name, ANDROID_PRIORITY_AUDIO);
     }
 
     JavaThread(JavaThread &&) = delete; // uses "this" ptr, not moveable.