For more than five decades, Paul Lindfors’ violin never made a sound. Once a treasure of his youth, the violin became little more than a showpiece when Lindfors gave up music to pursue athletic glory.

In auditory illusion tests, people perceive silence as a form of sound, just as Simon and Garfunkel suggested. By Bethany Brookshire The hush at the end of the musical performance. The pause in a ...