The Illusion of Sound

Person A speaks, Person B listens beside them, Person C listens over the phone, Person D listens through a recording device, Person E listens through a metal pipe, Person F listens through a vacuum tube, Person G listens through a wall, Person H listens through a door, Person I listens through a loudspeaker. Do these people hear the same sound? Why? When sound travels through a vacuum, through air, through metal, or through an empty pipe, the sound recognized by the auditory consciousness will differ.

Sound belongs to the material form among the Four Great Elements. Its transmission requires a medium; without a medium, it cannot propagate. Different media offer different resistances, and thus the speed of transmission also varies. What is meant by resistance? It means that during the transmission process, some of the particles of the Four Great Elements cannot pass through the medium and are blocked or absorbed by it. Consequently, the particles of the Four Great Elements that do pass through the medium undergo changes, causing the resulting sound to be altered. The more media the sound passes through, the longer the distance, the greater the resistance encountered, the more particles that are blocked, and the more the sound becomes distorted.

The ultimate destination of sound transmission is the "black box" of the ultimate faculty (the subtle organ). Each person's auditory nerve conduction and brain nutrients differ, resulting in varying influences on the sound entering the ultimate faculty. Therefore, the sound each person hears has a certain degree of difference. This demonstrates that the sound we hear is not real; there is no such thing as "sound" itself—it is merely a mass of electrical signals and information. We all live in a virtual world of information.