No, I'm connected to both the internet and gameloft, and even had a friend send a chest and heart to me. Never received either one even after...about 17 hours now. I'm still able to send hearts and chests, too. I am just not receiving any. It's a known glitch that they are working on...supposedly.
The sound problem isn't a factor of the phone or game settings, either. I've toyed with both the phone's set volume and the game's volume controls. No matter what, it never makes any sound through the phone's speakers, but with earbuds it works exactly as intended. As far as I can tell, the glitch is that the game always "thinks" that earbuds are attached and sends the signals for sounds there, even when the headphone jack is empty.
Also, those numbers were the total gains from 34 games of balloon pop (hearts version), not my current holdings. Take any of those numbers and divide by 34 to get the odds of receiving one during any game of balloon pop (hearts version). Granted, that gives you a statistical model, not actual predictability. Still useful, though. Especially for gems. I was surprised myself that one heart turns about to be, statistically, 0.0098 gems. Essentially 1/100th of a gem.
P.S. You should consider donating several hundred of those shards to their respective statues. Every time you donate 100 shards to its respective statue, you get a chance to receive a gem. Any shards gained after 999 are simply lost, and you are sitting on, potentially, a dozen gems or more!