The tree fall question?

Question

If a true falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, did it make a sound.

Answer 1

Part of the definition is that there has to be somebody there to hear the sound.
Let's assume that a deaf person and a hearing person see the tree fall. The hearing person will hear the crash and the deaf person will not. Does that mean that sound can exist and not exist at the same time?
I think not.

Answer 2

BTW give me a beer,

One of the great dumb philosphy questions is, "If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?" The obvious answer is: "Of course there is. What a stupid question. Next you're going to ask about that clapping thing." But philosophy isn't about the obvious; philosophy is about the devious. The answer, arrived after much debate (and much drinking) seems to be "no": Sound is only sound if a person hears it, claim the tipsy pundits.

Answer 3

The tree is a physical object. The sound of it falling is definite. The perception of hearing the actual fall is irrelevant.

Answer 4

Yes, sound is defined as the mechanical vibration of an object and the compression-rarification wave that progresses through the medium such as air. Since the tree does vibrate on impact with ground, there is sound production and the absence of a human receiver doesn't affect it.

Answer 5

Yup ... Sound is produced by a collision of particles

and you said that the tree fell (how do you know if you never saw it :-) ) which means the tree has to have colided with air molecules and eventually the ground ... hence sound produced!