If a tree fell in a forest and no one was there to here it fall would it make a sound

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Hey Guys, interesting topic of debate, my school have set up an exchange partnership with another school in new Delhi and as a result have created a student discussion forum for students of all backgrounds and abilities to debate a series of ethical, scientific and philosophical questions i've decided to repost some of these questions on here in order attain a wider perception of people thoughts experiences and knowledge and an interesting discussion point to get peoples creative minds in gear i'm posting my answer here:

"To answer the question first we must define the concept of sound, sound is the auditory effect of vibrations in an elastic medium it is created by a series of compressions and rarefractions of air molecules assuming there is no vacuum for which longitudinal waves cannot travel through. However it would be impossible to actually ascertain what sound is as it is a subjective interpretation of a receiver i.e. a human. In other words if we imagine a series of transmitted pulses which reach the ear, these pulses are then transferred into electrical signals within the auditory circuits of the brain creating so called 'sound'. In this way we will never know. It loosely follows from the observer effect that something being observed changes the thing being observed, as there is no observer hypothetically no 'sound' as we know it is observed."

anyone's welcome to answer and i just thought it would make a good debate

If no one's there to read your question, would your question still be there...?
hhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

The sound is the vibrations racing through the atmosphere to your ear drum. Of course it makes a sound, we're just not there to interpret it. To assume it doesn't make a sound is ridiculous. That's like saying 1% of the time a tree will fall over and make no noise.

it would make a pressure wave in the surrounding air, but it wouldn't be detected by someone's ear and percieved as a sound in someone's mind.

I've never understood why this is supposed to be an interesting question. If to make a sound is to produce a sense-impression in someone's brain then obviously not, if to make a sound is something else about the potential to produce such an impression, or stuff about vibrations, then obviously yes. At the very best it's an illustration of why we should clarify what we're talking about before we start.

Good answer, Yeah thats pretty much what i think i mean theres the sound we hear but what is sound without an observer and is it still a 'noise'