Commotion perceived by ear (5)
I believe the answer is:
scene
'commotion' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I can't explain the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scene that I've seen before include "Place of an event - of the crime?" , "Subdivision of a drama" , "Histrionic incident" , "Part of a pantomime" , "Locality; embarrassing emotional display" .)