What do tennis dampeners do?

Like most have suggested the dampener does nothing more than provide a different sound...a pop as compared to a thwang (horrible sound). However in CO, I was playing with 1 guy and he told me he spoke once with Thomas Johansson as to why he didn't use a shock absorber. He replied saying that if you don't hear that thwang it means you are hitting the ball from the sweet spot, if you do hear it, it means the ball is not coming from the sweet spot so not using it in a way can help you know if the ball is coming out of the sweet spot or not. However I still continue using one. I just hate that horrendous sound without it.