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

One possible Answer for this Philosophical Question:

Everything that vibrates the air creates the potential for sound, regardless of what conscious being is there to perceive it in the first place. If there is nothing to perceive it occurring, then it could not exist. Sound is a subjective interaction with matter. All sound is, is vibrations through a medium, without humans to perceive it, those vibrations that we call sound, when the tree fell, would make vibrations, but "sound" as we know it, couldn't exist, since no conscious being was there to interpret those vibrations.

A Question About Evidence

How do we know said tree fell if no one was around to witness it, or even hear it?

Answer to Evidence

It's a philosophical question, so it does puzzle the mind. It's like exercise for the mind, the more you use it the stronger it gets.

For example, if a Deaf person was in the woods and a tree fell, would it make a sound? No, because their auditory system would not pick up the vibrations that make sound. They may feel the lower vibrations in their body, but not the sound.

A simpler answer

A Personal Point of View Answer

No matter what, whether heard or not, the tree would make a sound. This conclusion would make sense due to the fact if a tree falls in the forest, and someone IS around to hear it, it WOULD make a sound! The "someone" does not have to be there! As an example, picture yourself as a child living with your mum. Your TV is rather loud, and tunes out all other sounds. Your mum is shouting to you from another room. You can't hear her, but she is making a sound! And maybe you're thinking, "Well the TV is tuning out her voice, so that's why!" Not true! Now picture the same thing, except the TV is not on, and you are lounging on the couch, not deep in thought. Your mum yells at you again, asking for a favor from the upstairs bedroom. Though no other noise is being made except for hers, you still can't hear her! In this description, You're not around, or close enough, to hear your mum's voice! Yet she is still making a sound!

The scenarios above would make a sound, because mum, herself, could hear her own voice. So, I do not agree with that answer and support all the perspectives above the last one. To put it simply, vibrating air is only vibrating air. That does not mean that it is making a sound, because a sound requires sensory organs and a nervous system to process the vibrations and then interpret those vibrations as sound.

Here is my analogy: If a person blows a dog whistle, does it make a sound? Not to a human, but only if there is a dog close enough to hear it.Then it would make a sound.

So the answer really should be, in my opinion: if a tree falls in the woods it does not make a sound unless there is anything from an insect to a human being to hear it.

Depends

It depends how hard the tree fell. What if it fell so hard that it can be heard half way around the world? Also are we assuming that the vibration in the air is not sound until it reaches our ear? What is the speed of sound? Is a ball not a ball until we catch it? Is wind not wind until we feel it? Does a chair exist to a blind individual until the individual sits in it? Sound exists whether we are around or not. It is only the matter of if anyone is around to translate the sound into information.

First answer by Redbeard. Last edit by Nafeeshoque. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 56 [recommend question]