As mentioned in a previous post, my dad learned the harmonica on his own. One of the upsides he mentioned is that he plays by sound rather than having to read the numbers. Will I ever be able to play just by sound? Does that come with lots of experience?
PS: When we messed around on our harmonicas together, he also recognized that he taught himself some bad habits and was excited when I showed him how you taught us to play single notes by tilting the harmonica 
Yes, you absolutely can play just by sound (or by āearā).
It takes some time to really get a feel for where every note is, but once you got it, its not to hard.
Alot of people rail on playing tabs, (or by number as you call it), but I found a lot of value in tabs. You can literally pick up your harp and play with little thought, and you still get valuable practice with bends, single notes, and chords. Plus, as I mentioned above, you learn where all the notes are.
I just started seriously pursuing positional playing, where you can play any key on one harmonica. Its hard, but worth it.
I think music/tablature is a great entry into learning an instrument. Back in the day when we had magazines like āGuitar Proā I would rush to the supermarket at the beginning of the month to grab the new tab from Nirvana, haha.
If you are a diatonic player, I think you can fairly quickly listen and know, at least for straight draw/blows. Bending knowledge is my current challenge, but the way I see it is if you keep your lips moist and running the comb, sooner or later youāre going to hit it!
Iām kind of in the opposite boat, where I started playing using tabs and only now, after more than a year, making the transition to āfullerā notes (basically, sheet music with tabs below the notes). While the initial tabs made it easier to learn, I always had the issue that my āversionā would always sound ādifferentā and I had to spend extra-long to understand the note lengths by ear.
@berger.hanni Learning to play by ear is a skill. And like any skill, itās one you can learn.
Check this out: This is How to Learn Harmonica by Ear
Maybe Iām stranger, but I donāt know which channel numbers I play. Writing tabs is very hard task for me. Iām playing mostly by ear. When I play harmonica, I think about C-major scale steps. No matter which harmonica I play. Harmonica is my second instrument. First was piano. At the beginning of learning harmonica, I visualized a piano roll in my mind. This was works fine for me. Especially for playing by ear.
When I started to learn harmonica in the '90s, there was difficult access to tabs. The best way to learn something was playing by ear. And I think that way was the best.
@JanDomanski - Iām there with you. I played guitar first and understood theory. So it was all feel and intervals for me. I only learned tabs when I started trying to teach, and early on I would VERY OFTEN write the wrong hole numbers! 
āI donāt know what hole number Iām playing, I just know what it FEELS like!!!ā 
For 7 years I posted vids on my Funkyharp YT channel and people would always be like āShouldnāt that number be this number?ā And Iād be like, āOh yeah youāre right! Sorry!ā
I pick a song and get the tabs. Then I listen to the tune and watch the tabs. This helps with rhythm. I listen to it many times and try to learn a line at a time.
After I no longer need tabs I play it and find out what needs to be corrected. It seems the closer I get the more of the smaller things such as holding a note longer appear. I find tabs are of no help once I can play a given tune by memory.
Do tabs help yes but only during the initial phases of learning a tune. After that it is practice and listening to a tune many more times.
Scales and exercises teach your hands and mouth where the notes are (muscle memory) Have a song in your head, start to finish you can "hear it, "Your brain will make all the right connections. Pick any song memorize it then start picking out the notes (learn it in prases like sentences in speech) until you figure it out, then on to the next tune. No magic just persistence and understanding that you canāt āthinkā your way through it. Muscle memory and knowing the music not just the notes. Scales scales scales inputs the muscle memory.
Thatās what Iāll try to do as well. Thank you!