Problem:
As a developer, it’s difficult to prevent a sound from being played without causing conflicts with other scripts. I can destroy a sound to prevent it from being played, but any script that tries to access that sound will break (e.g. default Sound script, third-party scripts, my own scripts by a third-party script). I could fork the default Sound script, but that opts me out of future updates. Forking third-party scripts has similar ramifications, with the added side effect of me needing to be aware of potential sound use in every third-party script I use.
Proposed Solution:
Destroying and forking are not good options. I could change properties like Volume, but other scripts may change those as well. This is a problem in modding Bethesda games as well, so instead of destroying references, modders disable them instead. They have no functionality when disabled, but any other scripts that try to access the reference continue working. Generally scripts only disable references in this case, as there’s no reason to enable (the default). As a result, the potential for conflicts is minimal.