So, im just sittin'

[Your Creeper Cabbie]

in a CVS parking lot, and I hear a creaking sound. I look to my left and this overgrown Bradford pear splits in half and falls right in front of my car.1 minute ago I was not here. So the question is; Would it have made a sound 2 minutes ago?

[PhillyB]

uber weird man

[cookinwithgas]

"sound" is a construct that requires a listener. Without an ear and brain to process the pressure waves generated, there is no sound.

[Mother Grabber]

42 minutes ago, cookinwithgas said:

"sound" is a construct that requires a listener. Without an ear and brain to process the pressure waves generated, there is no sound.

the pressure waves are generated whether there's someone there to witness it, or not. you don't have to witness or measure an event for it to happen. there's a vast universe of events constantly happening that we aren't witnessing, yet they are still happening.

[cookinwithgas]

thats not sound though. It's pressure waves. "Sound" is the result of your eardrum vibrating due to the pressure waves which is then interpreted by the brain.

[Mother Grabber]

56 minutes ago, cookinwithgas said:

thats not sound though. It's pressure waves. "Sound" is the result of your eardrum vibrating due to the pressure waves which is then interpreted by the brain.

that depends on if you're a physicist or a physiologist. a physicist will say that the event of making the pressure wave is creating sound.

[cookinwithgas]

Sound = force creating waves, medium carrying waves, receiver to process waves and convert to electrical impulses the brain recognizes as sound

If the wave is at 40kHz, a dog can hear it but a human cannot. Its sound for the dog but not for the human.

[Anybodyhome]

So, when the wife is yammering at me about something I don't pay any attention to, is the act of me not processing whatever she's saying mean there's no sound by choice? 

 

[Jangler]

8 hours ago, Mother Grabber said:

the pressure waves are generated whether there's someone there to witness it, or not. you don't have to witness or measure an event for it to happen. there's a vast universe of events constantly happening that we aren't witnessing, yet they are still happening.

Made me think of this

 

[Mother Grabber]

6 hours ago, cookinwithgas said:

Sound = force creating waves, medium carrying waves, receiver to process waves and convert to electrical impulses the brain recognizes as sound

If the wave is at 40kHz, a dog can hear it but a human cannot. Its sound for the dog but not for the human.

it's a matter of how you define sound.  A physiologist defines sound as the interpretation of the pressure wave. A physicist defines it as the creation of the wave.  My first degree is in physics, so I side with that definition.  My dad was a professor of linguistics, so he'd probably side with you.