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My thinking says that the air rapidly leaving the
popped bag or balloon is crashing into the surrounding air which then
causes a shock wave
which in turn propagates outward causing the sound
that we hear. Specifically, our ears are detecting the shock wave and
not any momentary increase in pressure caused by the released air.
It seems unrealistic to me that the air pressure would increase and
propagate such that you can easily hear a popped balloon even if you are
100 meters away. Yet, this seems perfectly reasonable if you are hearing
a shock wave caused by colliding air.
A similar question is that of thunder. Again, I assume that what we are
hearing is the heated air expanding outward colliding with "still" air
in the surrounding region.
This also has the effect of leaving a lower
pressure region (because of the heat) that the air then rushes back into
almost instantly. When this air rushes back it collides and more shock
waves are produced. The effect being a "ka-boom" sound having a longer
or multiple impluse thunder clap vs. the single "pop" you get from a
balloon.