Everyday, Americans are bombarded with a horde of seemingly trivial questions: paper or plastic? Fish or chicken? To be or not to be? Let us instead tackle a question of true import. If a tree were to fall in the woods and there was no one present to hear it, would it still make a sound?Obviously, it would not.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word sound in this way: “a vibratory disturbance, with frequency in the approximate range between 20 and 20000 cycles per second, capable of being heard.” This definition, from a credible source, clearly establishes three conditions that must be present for sound to occur.

The first is that there be a vibratory disturbance. Clearly, if a tree falls there will be a disturbance. Even if all that is disturbed are air molecules, these will number in the millions. Also, the tree has to eventually hit the ground, causing another disturbance. Thus, it is plain that a disturbance will occur.

The second condition is that the disturbance be in the range of 20 to 20000 cycles per second. Not being a scientist, I am not prepared to refute this. Thus, if only for the sake of argument, let us accept this to be correct.

Which brings us to the third criteria, which is that such a disturbance at said cycles per second must be capable of being heard. Undoubtedly, if no one is present to hear the vibratory disturbance, than it cannot be heard; it is incapable, in this situation, of being heard. Thus, the third measure remains unsatisfied.

However, this is not even the most compelling evidence. Consider the second definition given by The American Heritage Dictionary: “the sensation stimulated in the organs of hearing by such a disturbance.” Thus, by its very definition, sound cannot exist unless there are organs of hearing present to perceive them. In lieu of such repositories of sound, there will exist only a disturbance, existing at 20 to 20000 cycles per second that silently accompanies the falling tree.

In sum, if I may mix metaphors for a moment, it takes two to tango. For sound to exist, there must not only be an agent to produce the sound, but also some agent (a person) to receive the sound. Consider it in this light, if your professor gives a lecture and no one in your class wakes up in time to hear it, has the lecture actually been given?