Question

How does the sound produced by a vibrating object in a medium reach your ear?

Answer 1

When an object vibrates, it also sets the particles of the medium around it vibrate. These particles do not travel all the way from the vibrating object and reach our ears; rather, the particles of the medium in contact with the vibrating object get displaced from their equilibrium position, which exerts a force on the adjacent particle and displaces it as well, and the initial particles return to their original position. This process continues in the medium until the sound reaches our ears. The disturbance created by a source of sound in the medium travels through the medium and not the particles of the medium.