I understand that the question is, if no one is around to hear it, did it make a sound?
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In addition to the already given elaborations on the potential meanings of sound as
– (a) a pressure wave in air,
– (b) the human perception,
there is another angle worth mentioning: **object permanence**.
Are things still there, do they even exist, whenever we are not observing them at all? Maybe they pop out of and back into existence whenever we look around? One could even argue if oneself is the _only_ entity that really exists, maybe everyone else ceases to whenever we are away from them?
Peek-a-boo is often interpreted as a test that babies fail this concept, including a belief that one becomes invisible or even intangible by shielding one’s face. Physics and really all sciences however work better if we assume an _objective reality_, one that is there regardless of what we or others do or think. So while we can never _truly_ verify it, it just works better in the end, and is simpler in the description of nature (“Occam’s razor”).
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