I do believe that any mechanical wave, such as a pressure or shock
wave,
travels at the speed of sound, no more and no less. To travel faster,
it
would have to be an electromagnetic wave.

Also, the deaf person wouldn't hear the mechanical wave. Well,
unless they had "some" hearing still available. If it was proven that
a totally deaf person could hear it, that would pretty much nail it
down as
electromagnetic. If that came out to be true, then Coffmans theory
about the auditory nerve picking it up would probably be true unless
some other nerve was actually involved.
MK