Did Paul's companions hear the voice? Acts 9 vs Acts 22

The passages

And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

Acts 9:7

And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.

Acts 22:9

The problem

In Acts 9 the companions hear a voice and see no one. In Acts 22 they see the light but do not hear the voice. In Acts 26:14 they all fall to the ground, while in Acts 9:7 they stand. The three accounts are written by one author, probably in the same document, which makes the differences more notable.

What believers and scholars say

A point of Greek grammar. The verb "to hear" can take a genitive or an accusative object. With the genitive, as in Acts 9:7, it often means "to hear a sound". With the accusative, as in Acts 22:9, it often means "to hear with understanding". On this view the companions heard the sound but could not make out the words. This explanation is widely cited, and some grammarians doubt that the distinction is consistent in Hellenistic Greek.

They stood, then fell. The standing and falling can be sequenced: all fell at first, then rose and stood speechless. Acts 26:14 says "we were all fallen to the earth".

Free variation by one author. Fitzmyer and others suggest that Luke varies details between tellings because he is not trying to produce identical reports. The accounts agree on the light, the voice, the name, the commission and the blindness. The sideline details are less important.

Where this leaves it

If the grammar works as claimed, there is no conflict at all. If it does not, there is still an author who put three inconsistent versions in a single book without comment, which suggests he did not see them as a problem. Either way, the differences are about the bystanders, not the central event.