"Silence is one of contemporary info culture's rarest commodities." -DJ Spooky
"If a tree fell in the middle of a forest and no one was around, would it make a sound?" -some kid

In regards to the first quote above, I'd have to agree with DJ Spooky. Sound is always around us. It's in the way we speak, made from the things we do, and produced by the slightest bit of motion (even if it's not audible to the listener), prompting me to think of the second quote above. Science says yes, but it's the age old argument of "if you're not there, then how would you know?".

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Not every sound may be the most pleasing to each person's ears, but I think those sounds that we find pleasing and pleasurable to listen to come from experiences, or the lack thereof, that we all have. It makes me think of how when I listen to music in a foreign language, someone may connect to that music due to its lyrics, whereas I find enjoyment in the lyrics themselves becoming part of the music, of the rhythm in the background, as I don't focus on the sound of the words and their meaning now but the sound of the words against the rhythm, if that makes any sense. Without being able to attach a relatively concrete meaning to the music from the words, I receive a different perspective on how the piece sounds.

"The basic idea of how we create content in our minds is so conditioned by media" -DJ Spooky
"We are shielded from new sound experiences." -John Cage