Some people can hear the exact tones being played. That is, they have perfect pitch or absolute pitch.

Some people can add harmonize to a melody in real time. This is like improvisation but follows rules for such harmonization.

In the 1970's, Rodney Shearer, a pastor just starting out, could do such playing. Years later, in graduate school, I learned enough of music theory to understand how this can be done.

More: Jazz and music

It appears that Jesus uses play-on-word meanings when he is speaking in front of the general public and the religious authorities. Both Greek and Aramaic were spoken and understood by most everyone. The religious establishment appears to have spent a lot of time learning to read and write Hebrew (no longer spoken) and tended to look down on Greek. Therefore, they understood when Jesus used Greek but often did not follow the play-on-word sayings. Most of the general public, however, would have followed the play-on-words without difficulty.

In English, there is a distinction between "hear" a sound and "listen" to a sound with understanding.

Mother to her husband and sons: You all can hear fine. You just don't listen.

CAPD (Cognitive Audio Processing Disorder) is a condition where sounds are heard by the ear and get transmitted to the brain but do not get processed reliably so that parts of what is heard is not decoded.

Treatment can help but there is no known way to cure the condition.

Husbands: This may be a reason, but does not provide an excuse, for not listening to your wife.

The word "sound" in Greek usually refers to a sound that is understood. If that is not the case, there is some clarification needed.