If there is no ear to hear sound, then is there sound in the first place?

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Request for Question Clarification by hedgie-ga on 12 Dec 2004 01:34 PST

Answer depends on definition. Common meaning is ambiguous:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sound

answer is yes if you accept b)

b) Transmitted vibrations of any frequency.

answer is no if you accept c)

c)The sensation stimulated in the organs of hearing by such vibrations
in the air or other medium.

 In science  definition b) is accepted,  so in this section, answer is YES.

You can withdraw the question or ask for clarification
if you want more then prowided  in  the comments and here.

Dear allen101,

It depends how you see it. There will still be sound. Pretending if a
tree falls in a forest, even though if no one is around to hear the
tree fall, a sound is still produced. Sound is a form of energy that
causes particles of a meduim to vibrate back and forth. However, if
the question had been whether a sound is heard, the answer would have
been no because for it to be heard, three things are needed. One,
there must be a source that produces the sound. Two, there must be a
medium to transmit the sound because sound travel in a medium as
probably know. And three, there must be an organ of the body that
detects the sound and that would be the ear.

So sound is still produced by the vibrating particles but you just can't hear it.

I hope this helps and if it doesn't, give a little better clarification.

Best Regards,
questionboy777

Allen,

No. Defined sound is created WITHIN the ear. Before reaching the ear,
sound is a wave of energy like most other matter.

Questionboy, do smile as you read .. OK?  

I have never seen sound, as my eyes are not audio sensors. You can
view a seismograph, but you still won't hear it. A creature without
ears may detect vibration, but it will not hear the sound, because
none has been created. That's the whole point of the tree falling in
the forest example. It exemplifies the fact. Your three points of
source (tree), medium (air) and organ (ear) describe the transmission
of the shock wave. Upon reaching those vibrating bones inside our
heads, sound is "created". Next you'll be telling us that an orange in
a dark room is still orange! Unless of course you can hear orange.

Phil

Silver777,
Sound is produced when matter vibrates. No matter what, smart one.
You may feel the particles vibrate but that is a complete different story.

Let me give you a little part of the textbook that American children
use and if you disagree, tell the government that they are giving
American children false info.

"In humans, the organ of the body that DETECTS sound (so sound is
already created, but the ear detects them) is the ear." According to
the Prentice Hall Exploring Physical Science.

I don't like complaints and arguments so if you disagree, go tell them
and persuade the world.

When you bang on your desk, and if you are deaf, you can't hear the
sound but sound is still produced.

If allen101 is trying to say that can the word "sound" be created if
we had no ears in the first place, then we would not know what sound
is. SO that is why I said "It DEPENDS on how you see it!" Heck, you
would not even ask this question

I hope this helps.

-questionboy777

P.S. Ear is really the organ that transport sound because the auditory
nerve in the ear signals "the nerve fibers and transmit the electrical
impulses to the BRAIN, where they are interpreted as sound." Again,
according to the textbook. (interpreted, not created)

P.S.S. "Sound is a wave of energy like most other matter." Well, light
is a wave of energy so are you saying that when light enters your ear,
it becomes sound? Because light also vibrates particles except it
travels in transverse wave. Also why do you use "when a wave of energy
enters your ear, it is created as sound" since you don't believe sound
is produced out of the ear. For your believe, you should say "Before
reaching the ear, a wave of energy..." Because for you, you don't know
what the wave of energy is before it reaches the ear because it can be
any other matter. Will then, how do scientists know?

Silver777,
Sound is produced when matter vibrates. No matter what, smart one.
You may feel the particles vibrate but that is a complete different story.

Let me give you a little part of the textbook that American children
use and if you disagree, tell the government that they are giving
American children false info.

"In humans, the organ of the body that DETECTS sound (so sound is
already created, but the ear detects them) is the ear." According to
the Prentice Hall Exploring Physical Science.

I don't like complaints and arguments so if you disagree, go tell them
and persuade the world.

When you bang on your desk, and if you are deaf, you can't hear the
sound but sound is still produced.

If allen101 is trying to say that can the word "sound" be created if
we had no ears in the first place, then we would not know what sound
is. SO that is why I said "It DEPENDS on how you see it!" Heck, you
would not even ask this question

I hope this helps.

-questionboy777

P.S. Ear is really the organ that transport sound because the auditory
nerve in the ear signals "the nerve fibers and transmit the electrical
impulses to the BRAIN, where they are interpreted as sound." Again,
according to the textbook. (interpreted, not created)

P.S.S. "Sound is a wave of energy like most other matter." Well, light
is a wave of energy so are you saying that when light enters your ear,
it becomes sound? Because light also vibrates particles except it
travels in transverse wave. Also why don't you use "when a wave of
energy enters your ear, it is created as sound" since you don't
believe sound is produced out of the ear. For your believe, you should
say "Before reaching the ear, a wave of energy..." Because for you,
you don't know what the wave of energy is before it reaches the ear
because it can be any other matter. Will then, how do scientists know?

Dear allen101,

"Is there sound in the first place."

Are you trying to say that is sound being created in the first place
or can you sound be heard? Obviously there is a huge difference.

A little clarification would help our friend here, Phil, to better
understand the CONCEPT OF SOUND!

-questionboy777

Dear allen101,
you asked in right media, in text, 'cos your question only could
describe by deaf people. But i'm not deaf, all i want to say are ask
to the God why God created "sound" and why God created only the "ear"
to hear, secondly ask to the baby when they born, when they heard
sound in the first place! I guess the sound could be found when we
were born.

As questionboy rightly put it, sound is the vibration of matter. The
only place there is not sound is in a total vacuum.

(I have never seen sound....)
Dolphins and bats can. They use echo location and can 'see' sound.

(You can view a seismograph, but you still won't hear it.)
Most people can hear in the range of about 20-20,000 Hz. If you
produce a sound lower than 20Hz, can I hear it? No. But an elephant
can as they can hear much lower frequncies than people. If you produce
a sound above 20,000 Hz can I hear it? No. But a bat or a dog could.
Just because you or I can't hear it doesn't mean it's not there.

ofcource the answer is YES. sound will exist in absence of ear to.
it`s a form of energy transmitted thriug vibrasion.

ear is an orgenwhich make as HEAR soud. even if there is no ear sound
will exist. there are many among as with no ear but they will agree
that there is sound. don't you agree that.

Provided you aren't in vacuum, there will be something for vibrations
to propogate through, and thus there will be sound.