Yes, but not at the range of thousands of miles. You can use large (3-4 meter wide) parabolic dishes to focus the sound waves to a point. They're called Acoustic Mirrors they had a range of about 35 kilometers. You can also buy a parabolic microphone, those can pick up sounds up to 2.5 kilometers away.

The distinction for in swing vs out swing is usually only made for exterior doors. Interior doors are usually left or right hand swing. With your back against the hinges do you need the door to swing to your left or to your right. In your case you need a right hand swing door. This will have the hinges on the left and swinging to you, or flipped around the hinges on the right and swinging away from you.

Don't listen to anyone telling you not to do something because the next owner may not like it. Fuck that noise, this is your house, your door, and your problem it it goes wrong. Let the next owner worry about the next owner.

With that being said, I say go for it. There shouldn't be any glass there. I would use a hole saw or a spade bit, practice/test in a piece of wood, like a 2x4, before working on your door. Drill from one side until the center bit pokes through the other side then drill from the other side to finish. Google 3/4 in white plugs to find something to plug the hole, maybe stick some insulation in there if you live somewhere cold.

Try not to listen to these naysayers. No matter how badly you mess this up it can always be fixed. Even if you absolutely destroy it, they make new ones in factories every day. It's not an irreplaceable piece of architecture or art and no one will die if a door gets ruined. Just go slow, take your time, and stop and reassess if something doesn't seem right.

I thought that was only for floating floors that aren't attached to the subfloor.

I had the same problem. Turned out there was no trap on the drain standpipe. I had to send a camera down to find out and open the wall up to add one.