Quite recently I had a similar line of thought, and I came up with the explanation that the true carrier for perception is not the air/sound, but the tangible darkness which is set in some sort of resonance. The sound perceivable to humans is just a side effect, IMO - basso frequencies are extremely undirectional. (Read Douglas Adams on the mating calls of the kakapo, in "Last Chance to See...")
The deep sound makes sense - it is close to the panic frequencies which cause fright in most beasts (signalling earthquakes). Shades, darkness elementals, attack with their fearshock... I doubt that this is just acoustics. Darkness in Glorantha is more than the absence of light.
I might be leaving the physically plausible here, but isn't sound in water a lot different from sound in air? Maybe what goes for ultrasonics in Darkness translates into bass rumbles in air...
Anyway, from the description of Darksense, it seems to be closer to touch than taste in its effects - giving texture information in a spatial context.
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