I think you could mitigate the 'play short/silent sound on page load'. Each tab would have a max volume limit. The limit can be increased automatically while the tab is open, but it must stay within some % of that limit when the tab is not open. The default limit would be 0. You can add some restraints on the length of sound too, like require a sound to play for at least a second before adopting its new volume for the tab.