If a tree falls in a forest, and there is no one around to here the tree fall. Does it make a sound?

Answer 1

Yes, and my question is why would it not?

Answer 2

Sound waves, though imperceivable by our standards, affect everything they touch in some minute way. And as trees falling would certainly create sound waves, the answer would be yes they do make sounds, whether anyone hears them or not. Given the ability to measure it, the sound waves would have made some impact on whatever they touch, as all sound waves do.

Answer 3

This old riddle may well be familiar to you. It's supposed to perplex and confuse us. It's supposed to be unanswerable.

On the one hand, it seems obvious that a tree falling in a forest with no one to hear it makes a sound. The tree-fall is just the same whether an observer is present or not. In cases where an observer is present, a tree-fall makes a sound. Removing the observer doesn't change the tree-fall. An observed tree-fall therefore involves a sound.

On the other hand, there does seem to be a sense in which an unobserved tree-fall is silent. With no one present to hear the sound before it passes out of existence, it might as well not have happened. It's almost as though the tree-fall only creates a potential sound, which, if unobserved, never fully comes into being.

I think that this riddle can be answered, that there is no need to be perplexed or confused by it. What the answer is depends on what is meant by the word "sound". Once we are clear on what we mean by "sound", we can say with confidence whether or not an unobserved tree-fall makes one.

First, we might have a purely physical understanding of what a sound is. A sound is a pattern of vibrations in the air. It has wave form. It's a kind of purely physical event. Let's call this kind of sound a physical sound.

Second, we might have a psychological understanding of what a sound is. A sound is an experience that we have. It is not vibrations in the air, but a creak, a crash or a thud, a mental event. Let's call this kind of sound a mental sound.

An unobserved tree-fall clearly does make a physical sound. We can tell a story about how physical sounds come into being—events cause air to vibrate by pushing against it—and this story makes no mention of observers. Whether anyone observes an event, then, shouldn't effect whether or not it makes a sound. We can tell exactly the same story about an unobserved tree-fall creating a physical sound as we can about an observed tree-fall making a physical sound. In this sense of "sound", then, we have every reason to think that an unobserved tree-fall makes one.

An unobserved tree-fall clearly does not make a mental sound. The story that we tell about how mental sounds come into being—vibrating air acts on the ear-drum which produces electrical stimuli which are presented to the mind as sounds—does involve the presence of an observer. If no observer is present at an event, then there will be no ear-drums or electrical signals and none of this will happen. No sound will come into being. In this sense of "sound", then, an event must be observed if it is to make a sound, and an unobserved tree-fall will be silent.

What this draws our attention to is of far more interest, I think, than the riddle about trees falling unobserved in forests: the amount that we contribute to our experiences of the world. We encounter vibrations of air in the world, but these are presented to us as sounds (in the mental sense). We encounter patterns of light in the world, but these are presented to us as colours. The world in itself is not as we perceive it to be. Our brains 'make up' a significant proportion of our experiences. In a sense, then, trees falling in forests never make sounds, whether they are heard or not; when tree-falls are heard, the sounds are always made by the people who hear the tree falling.

Answer 4

Yes, of course. Sound is merely the vibration of matter. You don't have to perceive it, it still exists. Hearing needs to be perceived. Sound exists on its own. Its like the existence of an obscure person. Just because one does not realize the existence of a person, does not mean the person does not exist. Have you ever heard of Albriech Wolf? Me neither. But a person with that name exists. Take light as another example. In desolate places without life, there is no one to perceive light from the stars. Yet the light still exists. The same applies to sound. So yes, sound can exist independently; sound is merely vibrations of matter, not the perception of these vibrations.

Answer 5

I can't believe you will waste your time trying to explain the answer. It's simply "yes" Just because you aren't there to hear it doesn't mean it didn't happen.
That's like saying when you walk outside leaving your mother in the kitchen cooking is she still there? Or does she no longer exist? It's all in perception. Some people think life just doesn't exist if they aren't there. I think people call them egotistical! Lol. Just kidding don't get mad

Answer 6

according to skepticism, things only are there because humans percieve them so if there is no one around to hear it then it does not make a sound. but, whenever someone is around they do hear it. This causes confliction in this philosophical question and has puzzled millions of people for so long so there is no real answer.

Answer 7

No it would create a vibration in order for it to become a sound it has to hit an eardrum, even that of a squirrel, only then would it become a sound.

Answer 8

yes and no.
yes, because if it falls, it wil will probably cause vibration, causing a sound.
maybe not, because it didnt have any eardrums to bounce off of.
and, just for the record, the chicken came before the egg.

Answer 9

No. It creates sound waves but without any sort of device (even a tape recorder) to pick up the sound, how can it make one? A sound has to be perceived.

Answer 10

vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person's or animal's ear • a group of vibrations of this kind; a thing that can be heard

There has to be something to hear it.

Answer 11

Of course it makes a sound...it's just that no one is around to hear it execpt the animals.