Or that sound travels across water? I assume it’s because usually there are blockages, tree/buildings horizontally, while in high-rises and boats there are nothing blocking sounds
Edit. The myth here is that sound travels across water and upwards more than any other direction. Apologies if it was not worded well
Because sound does travel up? Is this a serious question? Assuming it is, you can prove this yourself with a simple experiment. Go stand on your roof. Now, drop something onto the ground below you, preferably something breakable, and drop it onto something it will break against like concrete (not necessary, just helpful).
Did you hear it hit the ground? Congratulations the sound traveled upward to your eardrum, and you’ve discovered sound does in fact travel upward. In fact it travels in all directions because sound is just air molecules moving around, which is why there is no sound in space (where there is no air).
The common thing I’ve heard is that it travels upwards more than horizontally
I’ve never heard this in my life. Are you sure you’re not missing a key piece of the equation? For example, you might hear sounds more easily at a high elevation (like several floors up a high rise) than at ground level? Or that sound travels further over a body of water than it does over other types of media? Because both of those are true (in certain circumstances), but they’re a function of the physics of air molecules.
This is fairly common among the less scientifically inclined in my community. Also here is a quora question https://www.quora.com/Why-does-sound-seem-to-travel-upward-more-easily-than-it-does-horizontally#:~:text=Sound can seem to travel,upward and travel greater distances.
I am more concerned about finding out the origin of the myth. I do know that sound travels omnidirectionally
A question on Quora doesn’t make it a common belief. Especially if there’s only 1.