Answer:
A red drum which sounds without being touched, and grows silent, when it is touched.
I can be written, I can be spoken, I can be exposed, I can be broken.
What has four legs during the day; and six or eight during the night?
What can be measured but not seen?
When they are caught, they are thrown away. When they escape, you itch all day.
Almost everyone needs it, asks for it, gives it. But almost nobody takes it.