Great question! We have developed detectors for gravitational waves, which are vibrations in the fabric of space-time predicted by Einstein’s theory of relativity. There are two major sources of gravitational waves that we expect to be able to detect:

• Merging compact objects: The remnants of dead stars (neutron stars and black holes, also known as compact objects—which form after stars more than ten times as massive as our Sun die) sometimes occur in pairs. If there are two compact objects that are gravitationally bound, they will spiral in towards each other, losing energy in the form of gravitational waves that travel across spacetime. The mergers of these systems can be detected using the (ground-based) LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA network of detectors. In fact, the merger of two neutron stars is so violent that it facilities the formation of heavy elements such as gold and platinum, as less heavy elements are forced to interact with each other and combine. These gravitational waves cause strain in these gravitational-wave detectors that is a fraction of the width of a proton—and we are, impressively, able to detect these!
• Other binaries: With the upcoming Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), we should be able to detect the gravitational waves emitted by two supermassive black holes (black holes that have millions of the mass of our Sun) orbiting each other, as well as two white dwarfs orbiting each other in a gravitationally bound system in our Milky Way Galaxy (a white dwarf is the stellar remnant left behind after a lower-mass star, such as our Sun, alpha Centauri, or Sirius, dies). The planned launch date for LISA will be in 2035.

On the other hand, sound (like your voice, or what we hear on Earth) cannot travel through space since it is a vacuum, meaning that there are no molecules that can be compressed and rarefied to keep the disturbance moving (unlike air on Earth, or water).