The book of Acts records Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. However, Bible critics point out that this event is described differently in a couple of accounts in the book of Acts.  

In Acts 22:9 when Paul was defending himself before the Jews in Jerusalem, he said “those who were with me indeed saw the light but did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me” (Acts 22:9). However, in Acts 9:7 the event is described as: “And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.” After all, how could Paul’s companions hear but not hear, and see but not see?

Hear, but not hear

Did they stand speechless, “hearing a voice” (9:7) as Luke recorded, or did they “not hear the voice of Him who spoke,” as Paul informed the Jerusalem mob in Acts 22:9? 

Throughout the scriptures, the same word can be used to convey different meanings. (e.g., two different uses of the word “day” in one verse in Genesis 1:5).

For instance, Jesus once spoke of those who, “seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matthew 13:13). To whom was Jesus referring? Those individuals who could literally see and hear Him, but who did not understand Him—they did not see and hear Him in the deeper, more meaningful way that He desired. The fact that Jesus used the Greek terms for seeing and hearing in different senses. 

Now back to Acts 9:7 and 22:9. The companions of Paul obviously heard something (a sound of some kind; see Robertson, 1930, pp. 117-118), yet they did not hear (i.e., understand) the voice of the Lord as did Paul. 

See, but not see

In the same essence people regularly (and honestly) talk of “seeing” and “not seeing,” —even in reference to the same things at the same time. The justifiable difference. For example, a man with poor vision and without glasses may not be able to “see anything”. But the same man with the same blurry vision may technically be able to “see something”. He can see light and darkness; he can see the blue sky; he can see fuzzy figures; and he might even be able to read a document held close to his eyes. Thus, in one sense the man can “see”, while in another sense “he’s blind”. Likewise, those accompanying Saul to Damascus “saw the light” (Acts 22:9), but they saw “no one” (9:7).

In conclusion, the companions of Paul saw and heard something that they didn’t understand. Luke, the penman of Acts, recorded the two verses in the same book. Iif the book wasn’t written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he could easily write the two verses similarly (Acts 9:7 & Acts 22:9) but in fact, there is no difference or contradiction between the two verses as mentioned before it is common that people use the same words for different meanings.

You can view a video of this article at this link:
https://youtu.be/dkseXLNdtCM?si=CJMPqECXgs_tZ0M7

Reference:

https://apologeticspress.org/what-did-sauls-companions-see-and-hear-on-the-road-to-damascus-997/

Robertson, A.T. (1930), Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman).