sound is not a nonphysical thing. it’s a mechanical vibration. besides, we were talking specifically about the present participle “dampening” which is far less ambiguous.
no, you even highlighted that it is proscribed. “dampening” has only one meaning, which is to make wet. the word is “damping”. it doesn’t dampen your voice, it damps it.
usage notes
The usage note pertains to usage 4, not 3
sound is not a nonphysical thing. it’s a mechanical vibration. besides, we were talking specifically about the present participle “dampening” which is far less ambiguous.
And so dampening is fine
Even if we were using it in the technical sense of would be fine
no, you even highlighted that it is proscribed. “dampening” has only one meaning, which is to make wet. the word is “damping”. it doesn’t dampen your voice, it damps it.