Commentary: Do plants perceive sound? A mechanistic perspective on sound-induced plant responses

Plants are subject to constant exposure to mechanical vibrations due to wind, rainfall, soil movement, and biological processes, yet the ability of plants to detect airborne sound remains under active investigation. Here, we synthesize cellular, molecular, and biophysical evidence to argue that mechanotransduction pathways more parsimoniously explain the reported sound-induced plant responses, rather than invoking sound-specific sensing mechanisms. More recent findings of mechanosensitive ion channels (e.g., MCA, MSL, PIEZO, OSCA) and receptor-like kinases, including FERONIA, suggest plausible molecular components of the connection between vibration-induced membrane deformation and Ca^2 + influx, electrical signaling, reactive oxygen species formation, and downstream transcriptional reprogramming. Nonetheless, we critically assess substantial methodological discrepancies, inadequate control of non-acoustic factors, and a lack of sound-specific genetic mutants that currently restrict causal reasoning. We suggest a shift from phenomenological sound-effect studies toward rigorously calibrated and genetically grounded experiments to better characterize how vibrations generated by airborne sound are transmitted and processed within plant tissues. Such approaches are essential to determine whether acoustic stimuli are a specific ecological signal or a contextual expression of plant mechanosensitivity.