What is the deep stillness reigning in Hell?

How frightful is the deep stillness reigning in hell among these myriads of souls! 

I thought, at first, I should get used to it, but there is no getting used to it. 

It is stifling and oppressive. 

What a contrast with the multifarious hubbub of earth!

Life may be ever so excited here—

Ever so restless—

It is dead to the ear. 

I do not mean to say that words passing to and fro are devoid of sound, but it is unearthly—

Unclothed of its body, falling dead on the spot—

I suspect that—like most things here—it is imaginary—

Unreal. 

Probably the meaning of anything that is said passes to the hearer without the medium of sound—

He seems to hear with outward ears, but that is illusion.