• Question: Is silence a sound?

    Asked by DaniBoi420 to Kate, Kuntal, Pip, Reka on 17 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Reka Nagy

      Reka Nagy answered on 17 Nov 2016:

      Silence is more like a lack of sound! However, if we were to sit in a room that was completely silent, we might still hear things – this is because our brains would be frantically trying to figure out what was going on, producing hallucinations as they make things up as they go. These are not real ‘mechanical’ sounds however as they only exist in our brain.

      So Simon and Garfunkel were just being artistic when they were singing about the Sound of Silence!

    • Photo: Pip Millington

      Pip Millington answered on 18 Nov 2016:

      Silence is defined as the absence of sound.

      Another reason it’s difficult to listen to pure silence is that your ears actually make sound as well as detect it! These are called spontaneous otoacoustic emissions. You can’t hear them in other people unless you use a special microphone!

Comments