Sense of place we hear (5)
I believe the answer is:
sight
'sense' is the definition.
(sighting is a kind of sensing)
'place we hear' is the wordplay.
'place' becomes 'site' ('site' can be a synonym of 'place').
'we hear' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'site' sounds like 'SIGHT'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for sight that I've seen before include "Glimpse" , "Notice" , "object of especial interest" , "Looking" , "something to behold" .)