Looking back on the semester, and having taken a course dedicated to sound I thought that I had to bring up this classic philosophical riddle: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Now while I do not profess to know the answer to this question, I will attempt to analyze it using the attributes of sound I learned this semester.
Now, from a physics stand-point, sound is created by something (whether it be a voice or an action) that disrupts the elastic molecules in the air causing them to part (making the crest of a sound wave) and then springing back together (forming the trough). However, it is my understanding that this does not actually correlate into a specific sound but rather forms the sound wave. From there, the sound wave travels to the ear where the "sound" of the sound is actually created through the inner workings of the ear. Thus, if no one is around to pick-up the sound waves then I am not convinced that there is actually a "sound" but rather just a "sound-wave".
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