diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index bc85c91..0f07257 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -90,8 +90,8 @@ Saves searching. If one of these moves, fix the line here in the same commit.
   does.
 - **Destructive actions** ask through `components/ConfirmSheet.tsx`. Never
   `window.confirm()` or `prompt()`.
-- **The Sound menu** (speaker button in the timer's header, only in the deep, with the
-  tank's volume) is `components/SoundMenu.tsx`. **Keep the picture** (the
+- **The Sound menu** (speaker button in the timer's header, only in the deep, click plays the tank, hold opens
+  its volume) is `components/SoundMenu.tsx`. **Keep the picture** (the
   timer's picture button, the finish sheet's link, the mark on a sitting in
   Stats) is `components/SavePicture.tsx`. "This moment" is
   `lib/wallpaper.ts`; any canvas that should be in it registers a layer
diff --git a/components/SoundMenu.tsx b/components/SoundMenu.tsx
index b3b799e..2f68071 100644
--- a/components/SoundMenu.tsx
+++ b/components/SoundMenu.tsx
@@ -25,6 +25,22 @@ export default function SoundMenu({ tank, night, accent }: Props) {
   const rootRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement | null>(null);
   const playing = !!tank?.on;
 
+  /* A click plays or stops the tank, first time, because that click is the
+     gesture the browser wants before it will make a sound. The volume is
+     behind a press and hold (or a right click), so it is there but never
+     stands between the reader and the sea. */
+  const holdRef = useRef<{ timer: number; fired: boolean }>({ timer: 0, fired: false });
+  const startHold = () => {
+    window.clearTimeout(holdRef.current.timer);
+    holdRef.current.fired = false;
+    holdRef.current.timer = window.setTimeout(() => {
+      holdRef.current.fired = true;
+      setOpen(true);
+    }, 450);
+  };
+  const endHold = () => window.clearTimeout(holdRef.current.timer);
+  useEffect(() => () => window.clearTimeout(holdRef.current.timer), []);
+
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!open) return;
     const away = (e: MouseEvent | TouchEvent) => {
@@ -91,11 +107,35 @@ export default function SoundMenu({ tank, night, accent }: Props) {
     <div ref={rootRef} className="relative">
       <button
         type="button"
-        onClick={() => setOpen((v) => !v)}
+        onClick={() => {
+          if (holdRef.current.fired) {
+            holdRef.current.fired = false;
+            return;
+          }
+          if (open) setOpen(false);
+          else tank.toggle();
+        }}
+        onPointerDown={startHold}
+        onPointerUp={endHold}
+        onPointerLeave={endHold}
+        onPointerCancel={endHold}
+        onContextMenu={(e) => {
+          e.preventDefault();
+          endHold();
+          holdRef.current.fired = true;
+          setOpen(true);
+        }}
+        onKeyDown={(e) => {
+          if (e.key === 'ArrowDown') {
+            e.preventDefault();
+            setOpen(true);
+          }
+        }}
         aria-expanded={open}
         aria-haspopup="true"
-        aria-label="Sound"
-        title="Sound"
+        aria-pressed={playing}
+        aria-label="Tank sound"
+        title="Tank sound (hold for volume)"
         style={{ color: open || playing ? ink : soft }}
         className="relative grid h-10 w-10 place-items-center rounded-[10px] transition-colors"
       >
diff --git a/readmedesign.md b/readmedesign.md
index a1dc767..e1b9e15 100644
--- a/readmedesign.md
+++ b/readmedesign.md
@@ -1334,8 +1334,10 @@ only ever grows, it never runs backwards, and none of it touches progress.
   wherever the gain is, so a tap mid-fade turns around without a step).
 - **The Sound menu** (`components/SoundMenu.tsx`) is the one speaker button in
   the timer's header, drawn only in the deep, in the soft ink and not the faint one so it can be found
-  on either paper, with a dot in the course colour while anything plays. It
-  opens a small paper card under the button: a switch for the tank, and
+  on either paper, with a dot in the course colour while anything plays. One
+  click plays or stops the tank (that first click is the gesture the browser
+  wants, so there is never a second one in the way). Press and hold, or right
+  click, or ArrowDown, opens a small paper card under the button: a switch for the tank, and
   under it a volume line, a pencil rule that fills with ink as it
   rises, a round paper knob, and the level as mono digits. The line is
   `.pl-volume` in `globals.css`; it takes the card's ink, track and knob as