How can a nucleus make a sound?

[robertjford80]

This is from Paul Davies the Last Three Minutes

Assuming the universe is replete with them, there would be an enormous number of WIMPs going through us (and the Earth) all the time. The principle of the experiment is mind-boggling: to detect the sound a WIMP makes when it bangs into an atomic nucleus!
The apparatus consists of a crystal of germanium or silicon surrounded by a cooling system. If a WIMP strikes a nucleus in the crystal, its momentum will cause the nucleus to recoil. This sudden shock creates a tiny sound wave, or vibration, in the crystal lattice. As the wave spreads, it will be damped and turned into heat energy. The experiment is designed to detect the minute pulse of heat associated with the decaying sound wave. Because the crystal is cooled to near absolute zero, the detector is extremely sensitive to the injection of any heat energy

I thought sound is due to particles moving up and down which activate hairs inside our ear which our immaterial, nonphysical, unconscious mind converts into meaning and communicates that meaning to the conscious mind. I don't see how the movement of one nucleus could create a sound. The only out I see is if that nucleus then causes other nuclei to move which is ultimately detected by the crystal lattice.

 

[ZapperZ]

Here, "sound" simply means lattice vibrations.

Zz.

 

[HallsofIvy]

Of course, if the crystal is in air, that vibration of the crystal lattice can cause molecules of air to vibrate- thus, causing sound waves in the air.