– Why does everything sound muffled underwater if sound travels 4x faster in water?
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The premise of the question is wrong. The speed of sound has no relation to how it is attenuated. If the sound originates from underwater, it doesn’t sound muffled. For example, underwater speakers actually sound quite good. While scuba diving, if you tap your diving knife on your tank to get another diver’s attention, it makes a clear ringing sound.
The interface between water and air does attenuate sound. Water is much more dense than air, so vibrations in air molecules are not able to induce the same vibrations in water.
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