Aristotle described sound as a spread of air impulses

Evidence

Sound takes place when bodies strike the air, … by its being moved in a corresponding manner; the air being contracted and expanded and overtaken, and again struck by the impulses of the breath and the strings, for when air falls upon and strikes the air which is next to it, the air is carried forward with an impetus, and that which is contiguous to the first is carried onward; so that the same voice spreads every way as far as the motion of the air takes place. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 42

Categorization

• XREF: Historical ancestor of the modern wave model of sound propagation.