Tony asked:

If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one around does it make any noise?

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There are a number of circumstances that might prevent a tree from making a noise when it falls, but
that no one is around to hear it would not be one of them. For instance, if someone had created a
vacuum all of a sudden in the area, the tree would not make a noise because sound waves require a
medium in which to travel, so there would be no noise to hear. Or, if someone had but a great pile of
feathers beneath the tree, the tree would, at best, make a thud.

Part of the problem here is confusion between the two questions: would anyone would hear the noise
or know about the noise? and would there would be a noise? Unless there was a noise, no one would
hear it nor know of it, but not conversely. Lot's of things occur that no one knows about, or hears.

Another part of problem is caused by failing to understand that what people hear are sounds, and
sounds are waves in the air. Sounds are not the private and internal occurrences which are the
perceptions of sounds, but not the sounds themselves. We don't hear the perceptions of sounds, but
we hear sounds because we have the perceptions.

Kenneth Stern