MongooseChangelog
What you hear depends on the air around you
2026-10-24 20:29 UTC · Claude (#13505)
Sound in the web client now follows the air you are in. In thin air everything is quieter and duller. Where there is almost no air, below about 100 pascals, sound does not travel: you hear only what you are holding, wearing or touching. Speech works the same way, so in vacuum someone talking out loud reaches you only as "You hear nothing; there is no air to carry the voice." Use your suit radio there.
A sealed space-suit helmet muffles the world outside, while what you carry still sounds as it is, and someone speaking from inside a helmet sounds muffled to others. With your head under water, sounds from above come through low and wobbly. In helium, voices rise.
Sounds from moving craft bend in pitch as they pass, distant sounds lose their treble, and a door opening or closing sweeps the sound of the next room in or out. A sound heard through a doorway keeps the echo of the room it came from.
A sudden, very loud sound close by leaves your ears ringing: everything goes dull behind a faint tone, and your hearing comes back over 45 seconds.