If a tree falls down in the forest and no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

[gnomon]

edit: Deleted my previous reply.

If we differentiate between sound and a sound wave then I would agree with Fluffy. However, I think this could be a semantical difference. There is the hypersonic effect being studied in which sounds humans cannot can produce a physiological reaction.

There is also infrasound. While these inaudible sounds which can produce a physiological reaction may still be classed as an observation made by the human verifying its existence it does show that sounds existence is not dependent upon the sense of hearing.

By the scientific definition, if a tree falls in the wood and no one is around to hear it a sound is still produced. Of course, as Fluffy has already shown (darn you!) that such reasoning is inductive and therefore I can only truly state that if a tree falls ... I believe it makes a sound.

 

[Reverend Rick]

So if a bear craps in the woods and no one smells it, the bears crap does not stink?

If you step in bear crap, does your nose or your feet cause the Bear's crap to stink instantly?

 

[K.Venugopal]

If a tree falls down in the forest and no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

When a tree falls down, a man and a dog may hear it differently. Even if the man did not hear it, the dog may have. So the question is, how did it actually sound when the tree fell? The deaf man would see the tree fall without a sound. So what is the truth? Maybe the answer is, there is no truth except as individuals perceive it. Many individuals perceiving a truth similarly would make it possible for the individuals to communicate and function as a community. What we have to discover is under what circumstances would everything in the universe react similarly and under what circumstances would every unit of organism react differently.

A more disturbing question, though, would be - If a tree falls down in the forest and no-one is around to know about it, does it fall at all?

 

[davidishere]

Sound is just electirical impulses traversing the surface of our brain. So, if a conscious being is not present to interpret the sound, then it would technically not exist.

 

[cardero]

On what basis do you assert that seeing it as green is the "right" state?

I think that this would depend on which state Mestimia has the van registered in.

 

[Willamena]

So if a bear craps in the woods and no one smells it, the bears crap does not stink?

If you step in bear crap, does your nose or your feet cause the Bear's crap to stink instantly?

If you "step in bear crap," then someone is around to smell it.

 

[Panda]

If a tree falls in the woods with no one around to hear it, it will produce waves of frequency that we recognize as a sound wave however sound only exists in our head so it doesn't make a noise but it does create a wave.

 

[gnomon]

Sound acts on more than those organs which transmit auditory signals to the brain.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The sound waves would still exist, but without anything to interpret the waves as sound, then the sound never existed.

 

[Draka]

You can turn your stereo up, put in earplugs, and even though you can't "hear" the music you can still "feel" the music due to the sound waves. Thunder can make your house rumble and vibrate the windows. These are effects of sound that have absolutely nothing to do with our ears or our brain's perception of sound.

If a deaf person is alone at home and they scream at the top of their lungs do they still make a sound? YES. Even though they cannot hear it it is still produced.

So, yes, of course the tree still makes a sound.

 

[Valjean]

It's all a matter definition. Is sound a series of compression waves, or a sensory perception mediated by compression waves?

 

[Willamena]

It's all a matter definition. Is sound a series of compression waves, or a sensory perception mediated by compression waves?

i.e. is sound imaginary, or real?

 

[Valjean]

Both!

 

[gnomon]

The sound waves would still exist, but without anything to interpret the waves as sound, then the sound never existed.

This may just be a philosophical disagreement then.

My point of view is that sound, not sound waves, as it is defined is the vibration of particles through a medium. If our perception was required for its existence then we would never hear it given the factor of time and distance.

The other distinction is that sound acts on other physical objects other than our eardrums.

That, and the fact that sound exists at frequencies we cannot hear yet there are studies showing that such sound may have some physiological effects on the body.

As well, we can record infrasound. We cannot hear it, except the most intense infrasound which reaches into the auditory range of human beings but this is sound nonetheless. An analogous question would be if a star gives off light but we do not see it does it effect us? Yes, it does. Skin cancer attests to that fact. Even though we cannot see it.

Besides, the common definition of sound is that it is a wave. There is no differentiation between sound and a sound wave. That is a redundancy. There is only a differentiation in amplitude, frequency and wavelength.

 

[Willamena]

Is there no one else, besides me, who says "Both!"?

 

[gnomon]

Is there no one else, besides me, who says "Both!"?

Seyorni did.

 

[Willamena]

Not technically the same "both".

 

[gnomon]

Not technically the same "both".

He gave us the other both.

I mean, Both!

I don't know what you two are "bothing" about anyway.





Hey O! I'm outta here!

 

[Draka]

IMO, sound is vibration waves produced at varying frequencies. Our ears, and the ability to hear, is just our brain's way of interpreting those vibrations, those sounds, into a means that our brain can process.

 

[Luke_17:2]

Of course it does. Setting aside the science involved, that is that sound is a series of vibrations that echo off surrounding objects, you have to take into account animals who live in the woods!

But back to the science. Our ears do not interpret the vibrations as sound; they interpret the sounds for what they are. I hear something fall because my brain has heard it fall. The vibrations that casuse sound are not interpreted as sound; they make the sound whether or not we're there to hear it.