If a tree falls

If someone hears it, yes.Otherwise, no.Sound is a sensory interpretation of waves in the air. In order for it to be, sound as we understand it, those waves need to be interpreted.Sort of like a CD. It's on your desk, it isn't music. Put it in the player, the laser INTERPRETS the little microscopic bumps, and produces sound. Same thing with your ear drum.

No. I can imagine it. Imagination takes place in the frontal lobes and involves recollection. No actuall hearing is involved.To hear something, it must first pass thrugh the eardrum, auditory nerve, and be processed in the auditory lobe of our brain.This message has been edited by Yaro, 12-29-2005 10:26 AM

AHHHH!... Stop it!

Actually, after reading thrugh the thread it seems both positions are correct. I think we are basically saying the same thing in a different way.For example, arabic looks like a bunch of squiggles to me, and pretty much that's all they are till someone who can interpret the stuff comes along. The stimulus exists at all times, but it only becomes writing in the mind of someone who knows arabic.Same with sound. The stimulus is there, but someone/something needs to interpret it to call it sound.I think it's just a matter of what you are calling sound, the data or the interpretation

Hey Ben, I'm not a neurologist, obviously you know more on this topic than I. My basic point was simply that 'sound' would be the signals coming from the eardrum, nerve, and finaly brain.The point is moot anyway, as I think Rhain has adequetly refuted my position. And so does the dictionary for that matter

AH!, but what if you drop the symbol, and your brain imagines there is a sound! ... ooo boy...