Sound

[Bazile]

Is a sound a sound because it can be heard ?

[jim360]

I'd say no. A sound is a pressure-wave propagating through a medium, and doesn't need someone to here it to be there.

[VHG]

It is like the old saying "if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make any sound?"

Mind you I suppose if you wanted to be pedantic you may say the animals can hear it.

[woofgang]

I think it might be nearer the truth to say that a sound is a sound because it has the potential to be heard....except of course people with synthaesthesia can hear colours and smell sounds.....

[Prudie]

Ah the definitive answer from Jim on whether a tree falling in a forest that no-one can hear still makes a sound.

[woofgang]

God in the Quad

Ronald Knox

There was a young man who said, "God
Must think it exceedingly odd
If he finds that this tree
Continues to be
When there's no one about in the Quad."
REPLY
Dear Sir:
Your astonishment's odd:
I am always about in the Quad.
And that's why the tree
Will continue to be,
Since observed by
Yours faithfully,
GOD.

[Bazile]

//"if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make any sound?" //

That was going to be my next question :-)

[jim360]

Yes, perhaps a bit dismissive of that old adage about the tree, but I've never been convinced that it's even a problem. Why should the Universe care about whether or not we are here? It's enough that a falling tree disturbs the air, creating the pressure wave that could just as well be called "sound" as not. If someone picks it up, or not, the wave still exists and still moves through the air.

[Old_Geezer]

IMO the name is in the clue. A sound wave is a wave, and it is this that is "sound". Not the interpretation of it by some listener who hears it. That is just their experience of sound.

[Old_Geezer]

"Why should the Universe care about whether or not we are here?"

Not into quantum theory then Jim ? Who collapses the wave functions everywhere ?

[jim360]

Not us. I don't buy, and never have, the idea that consciousness is the vital part of wave-function collapse. It's enough that particles interact with each other.

[ToraToraTora]

no, it's there to be detected, if there is a detector present a sound can be heard. Similarly radio waves abounded but until a receiver was invented we where none the wiser.

[mibn2cweus]

Sound (the cause) should not be confused with hearing (the effect).

[Hymie]

If a man says something and there is not a woman close by to hear what he said, is he still wrong?

[woofgang]

Hymie, yes.

[Peter Pedant]

// It is like the old saying "if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make any sound?" //

or what is the sound of one hand clapping ?

collected from Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance