Page 664 - Atlas of Creation Volume 4

Sounds Exist Only in Our Brains

The hearing process is similar to seeing. The information reaching us as sound is, just like images,
merely electrical signals. The external ear collects the sound waves around us and transmits them to the

middle ear. This then reinforces the vibrations and forwards them to the inner ear, which then converts
these vibrations into electrical signals, depending on their frequency and concentration, and sends them
to the brain.

In the brain, these messages are sent to the hearing center where they are processed and analyzed.
And that is how hearing takes place.
However, one very important point here is that just as with images, the sounds we heard are not so-
mewhere outside our brains. Peter Russell, known especially for his work on human consciousness, des-
cribes the position:

The same is true of sound. When Bishop Berkeley argued that nothing exists apart from our perceptions, a
vigorous debate ensued as to whether a falling tree made a sound if no one was there to hear it. At that time
nothing was known of how sound was transmitted through the air, or how the ear and brain functioned.
Today we know much more about the processes involved, and the answer is clearly “No.” There is no sound

in physical reality, simply pressure waves in the air. Sound exists only as an experience in the mind of a per-
ceiver—whether that perceiver is a human being, a deer, a bird, or an ant. 58

For us, external sound exists only for so long as we perceive it. However, to repeat a very significant
point, sounds, like visual images, are not inside our brains. In our brains, all that exists is electrical sig-
nals. All the kinds of sound we regard as “real” are products of these electrical signals in the brain.
When we chat with a friend, we perceive their three-dimensional image in a perfect form in our vi-

sual cortex; we also hear the sounds they make in such a way as to confirm the impression of dis-
tance. If our friend is far away, we are assured that his voice is also coming from a distance. Yet
these sounds are neither close to nor far away from us; they exist only in the form of electri-
cal signals. To put it another way, these sounds are not inside our brains either. There is ac-

tually a profound silence inside the brain.

662 Atlas of Creation Vol. 4