another word for speech sounds

Speech sound synonyms

What is another word for speech sound .

• phone sound unit of speech
• liquid sound unit of speech
• vocable sound unit of speech
• consonant sound unit of speech
• sonant sound unit of speech
• phonetic entity
• phonetic unit
• articulation
• language unit
• linguistic unit

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What is another word for speech sound ?

Synonyms for speech sound speech sound, this thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word speech sound ., princeton's wordnet rate these synonyms: 0.0 / 0 votes.

phone, speech sound, sound noun

(phonetics) an individual sound unit of speech without concern as to whether or not it is a phoneme of some language

Synonyms: sound , telephone , earphone , telephone set , phone , audio , strait , headphone , auditory sensation , earpiece

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How to pronounce speech sound?

How to say speech sound in sign language, words popularity by usage frequency, visual synonyms of speech sound, translations for speech sound, from our multilingual translation dictionary.

• parolada sono Esperanto
• sonido del habla Spanish

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• speech organ noun
• speech pattern noun
• speech perception noun
• speech production noun
• speech rhythm noun
• speech sound noun
• speech spectrum noun
• speech therapist noun
• speech therapy noun
• speech-read verb

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What are the different types of speech sounds?

Updated: Aug 11

Did you know there are different types of speech sounds? Have you worked with a child in the past who has focused on back sounds, or flow sounds, and wondered what does that mean?

Well, us humans are clever things and utilise different parts of our mouth and throat, controlling airflow in particular ways to produce a range of sounds. As a native English speaker, I’ll focus on English sounds but there may be some theory you can put towards sounds in any other language you are using with your child.

Speech Sounds: Voice, Place, Manner

This is the foundation phrase Speech and Language Therapists use when referring to speech sounds. Some sounds can be loud, like a D or V sound and others can be quiet or whispered like a T or H. This refers to the use of voice , utilising the voice box for the louder sounds and switching it off (or not vibrating the vocal folds) for quieter sounds.

When looking at place , this refers to where in the mouth the sound is made i.e. at the front or the back, with the tongue, teeth or lips.

The Manner of articulation indicates air flow and whether a speech sound is made when the air flow is stopped, allowed to flow a little or whether it is a sound made when the air flows out of the nose (like when producing a M sound).

Different places of Articulation

We make speech sounds in a few different places in our mouth and throat.

Lip sounds - these sounds are made by using the lips in some sort of way. P, B and M are made with both lips pressed together, W is made with lips rounded and F and V are made with the bottom lip tucked under the top front teeth.

Alveolar sounds - this refers to the hard palatal ridge just behind your top teeth. Here we make the T, D, N, S, Z, L, SH, CH, J. These are also referred to as front sounds .

Back sounds - sounds made towards the back of the mouth include K, G, NG. There are some other sounds made here in other languages, for example the Spanish ‘j’, Greek Ɣ and German ‘ch’.

Glide sounds - these are made when articulators move, R, L, W, Y.

Stop and flow sounds

Some of the sounds that we produce are made when the airflow is stopped and then released. Think of the ‘p’ sound. We produce this sound by pressing our lips together and letting air come out of our lungs but stopping it with our closed lips. Then we release the lips and the ‘puh’ sound is made.

The same thing happens for the ‘t’ sound, except this time we use the tongue tip on the ridge behind the teeth (the alveolar ridge) to stop the air flow and then release to make the ‘tuh’ sound. Try it.

The technical term for these ‘stoppy sounds’ is plosive . Stop sounds used in English are P, B, T, D, K, G.

Other speech sounds are made by letting the air flow through our articulators. Like the ‘s’ sound. For this sound we hover the tongue tip on the ridge behind the top teeth and let the air flow through to make the ‘sss’ sound.

Now try with the ‘f’ sound. For this we need to trap the bottom lip under the top teeth gently so that we can let the air flow to make this sound. This is one of my favourite sounds to help children with because we can make a rabbit face.

The technical term for ‘flowy sounds’ is fricative. Flow sounds in English are F, V, TH, S, Z, SH, H.

How can we tell there is a problem?

When speech sound difficulties occur, it is usually because a child is replacing one type of speech sounds with another. For example, they may be replacing a front sound T with a back sound K/C (saying key instead of tea ). OR they may replace a flow sound F with a stop sound D (saying dock for sock ).

A Speech and Language Therapist will be able to use samples of a child’s speech, usually with a picture naming assessment, to figure out what sounds a child can say, what sounds are missing or replaced, if the child has any particular difficulty with saying a type of sound and then decide on the best way to help make these difficulties better.

If this all sounds interesting to you, I go into much more depth and theory in my online course Speech Sounds: Steps to Success .

In this comprehensive training, we'll look at types of speech sound difficulties and common error patterns, as well as the development of speech sounds and the age children are expected to be able to produce certain types of sounds.

Then we go on to look at fun ways that you can resolve your child's speech sound difficulties and the different stages of their journey, from producing single sounds to being able to use their target sounds in sentences.

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106 Ways To Describe Sounds – A Resource For Writers

Writers know that using the senses is a great way to make stories come alive. Use this comprehensive list of words that describe sounds when you write.

According to Oxford Dictionary, to hear is to ‘perceive with the ear the sound made by (someone or something)’.  Sounds  are ‘vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person’s ear’.

You have to use the five senses when you write. Readers want to experience what your characters see, smell, hear, taste, and touch. Using the senses is one of the best ways for writers to learn how to show and not tell.

Writers Write is a resource for writers and we have written about words that describe taste , smell , and  touch  in previous posts. (We even have one for words that describe colours .) In this post I have included words that describe sounds.

106 Ways To Describe Sounds

General words describing sounds.

• audible – a sound that is loud enough to hear
• broken – a sound that has spaces in it
• emit – to make a sound
• grinding – a sound of one hard thing moving against another
• hushed – a sound that is quiet
• inaudible – a sound that is difficult to hear
• monotonous – a sound that is always the same and never gets louder or quieter, or higher or lower
• muffled – a sound that is not easy to hear because it is blocked by something
• plaintive – a sound that has a sad quality
• rhythmic – a sound that has a clear, regular pattern
• staccato – a sound where each word or sound is clearly separate

Describing Pleasing Sounds

• dulcet – soft and pleasant
• lilting – a sound that has a rising and falling pattern
• listenable – easy to listen to
• mellow – a soft, smooth, pleasant sound
• melodic – beautiful sound
• musical – sounds like music
• pure – a clear, beautiful sound
• rich – a sound that is strong in a pleasant way
• soft – quiet and peaceful
• sonorous – a sound that is deep and strong in a pleasant way
• sweet – a pleasant sound

Describing Noisy Sounds

• at full blast – as loudly as possible
• almighty – used for emphasising how loud something is
• brassy – a sound that is loud and unpleasant
• deafening – a sound so loud you cannot hear anything else
• ear-splitting – extremely loud
• explosive – a sound that is loud and unexpected
• howling – a continuous, low, loud noise
• insistent – a continuous, loud, strong noise
• loud – a sound that is strong and very easy to hear
• noisy – a sound that is full of  noise
• percussive – a sound that is short, like someone hitting a drum
• piercing – a sound that is very  loud, high, and unpleasant
• pulsating – strong, regular pattern
• raucous – rude, violent, noisy
• resounding – a sound that is loud and that continues for a while
• riotous – lively and noisy
• roaring – a deep, loud noise
• rowdy – noisy and causing trouble
• sharp – a sound that is sudden and loud
• shrill – a sound that is loud, high, and unpleasant
• thundering – extremely loud
• thunderous – loud
• tumultuous –  a sound that includes noise, excitement, activity, or violence
• uproarious – extremely noisy

Words That Help You Show And Not Tell

Many of these words that help you show and not tell are examples of onomatopoeia . These words imitate natural sounds. ‘It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting.’

Here are some examples:

• The bees buzzed outside my window.
• The wind sighed .
• The leaves crackled and crunched under his feet.

Use this list to make your writing come alive.

• babble – a gentle, pleasant sound of water as it moves along in a river
• bang – to move, making loud noises
• beep – a short high sound or several short high sounds
• blare – to make a loud and unpleasant noise
• blast – to make a loud sound with a car horn
• bleep – a short high sound or several short high sounds
• boom – to make a deep loud sound that continues for some time
• caterwaul – an unpleasant loud high noise
• chime – a high ringing sound like a bell or set of bells
• chink – a high ringing sound when knocked together, or to make something do this
• clack -to make a short loud sound like one hard object hitting against another
• clang – a loud, metallic sound
• clank – a short, loud sound
• clash – a loud, metallic sound
• clatter – a series of short, sharp noises
• click – a short sound like the sound when you press a switch
• clink – to make the short high sound of glass or metal objects hitting each other, or to cause objects to make this sound
• cluck – to make a short, low sound with your tongue
• crash – a sudden loud noise, as if something is being hit
• creak – if something creaks, especially something wooden, it makes a high noise when it moves or when you put weight on it
• drone – to make a low continuous noise
• fizz – a soft sound that small gas bubbles make when they burst
• groan – a long, low, sound
• growl – a low, unpleasant noise
• grunt – to make a short low sound in your throat and nose at the same time
• gurgle – the low sound water makes when it is poured quickly from a bottle
• honk – to make a loud noise using a horn, especially the horn of a car
• hoot – to make a short loud sound as a warning
• mewl – crying with a soft, high sound
• moan – a long, low sound
• neigh – to make a high loud sound like a horse’s neigh
• peal – if a bell peals, or if someone peals it, it makes a loud sound
• peep – if a car’s horn peeps, it makes a sound
• ping – to make a short high sound like the sound of a small bell
• pipe – to make a very high sound, or to speak in a very high voice
• pop – a sudden noise like a small explosion
• putter – a short, quiet, low sound at a slow speed
• ring – to make a bell produce a sound
• roar – to make a continuous, very loud noise
• rumble – a continuous deep sound
• scream – to make a very loud high noise
• screech – to make a loud, high, and unpleasant noise
• scrunch – to make a loud noise like something being crushed
• sigh – a long, soft, low sound
• squeak – to make a short, high noise
• squeal – to make a long high sound
• squee – to make a loud high noise because you are excited or happy
• thrum- to make a low regular noise like one object gently hitting another many times
• thud – a dull sound when falling or hitting something
• thump – to hit against something with a low loud sound
• tinkle – to make a high, ringing sound
• wail – to make a long, high sound
• wheeze – a high sound, as though a lot of air is being pushed through it
• whine – a high, loud sound
• whirr – a fast, repeated, quiet sound
• whisper – to make a quiet, gentle sound
• whistle – to make a high sound by forcing air through your mouth in order to get someone’s attention
• yelp – a short, loud, high sound, usually caused by excitement, anger, or pain
• yowl – a long, loud, unhappy sound or complaint

Use these words to describe sounds and make your writing come alive.

Top Tip : Find out more about our workbooks and online courses in our shop .

© Amanda Patterson

If you enjoyed this post, read:

• 75 Words That Describe Smells
• 20 Words Used To Describe Specific Tastes And Flavours
• 209 Words To Describe Touch
• Three Simple Ways To Show And Not Tell
• 12 Crucial Things To Remember About Setting
• Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language
• 20 Fun Ways To Find An Idea For A Plot

Sources: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/miscellaneous-words-used-to-describe-sounds https://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/describing-sounds-that-are-unpleasant-to-listen-to https://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/describing-sounds-that-are-low-and-or-deep https://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/describing-sounds-that-are-quiet-and-or-soft https://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/describing-sounds-that-are-high-and-short https://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/to-make-a-loud-sound https://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/to-make-a-high-sound https://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/to-make-a-quiet-or-low-sound

• Description , Show Don't Tell , Writing Resource , Writing Tips from Amanda Patterson

6 thoughts on “106 Ways To Describe Sounds – A Resource For Writers”

Nice one, Amanda. I’m finding your website extraordinarily useful. I’m very new to the novel-writing scene, and for all my working life, the stuff I wrote was mainly serious business items – frightfully formal. Minutes of meetings, reports, training manuals – these were my bread-and-butter. Creative writing is proving to be much more fun, and I’m enjoying spreading my verbal wings. Many thanks for your help and guidance.

Thank you so much, Anne. Creative writing is much more fun. We’re so glad you’re finding the site to be useful.

I found this really useful. Thank you. The first thing I’m going to do is show it to my daughter, too! We’ve been talking about her using her senses more in her writing and your list is so practical. I’m sure it will really help her writing. I’m looking forward to exploring your links to the other sensory words, as well.

BTW – is there a typo in the heading ‘show and note tell’?

Thank you, Rowena. We really appreciate the feedback. And we fixed the typo.

This list will be quite useful for my poetry and Gothic Horror novel. If you don’t have one already, I’d love to see a list of touch, taste, and smell words.

Thanks, Sarah. We have these for taste: https://writerswrite.co.za/20-words-used-to-describe-specific-tastes-and-flavours/ and these for touch: https://writerswrite.co.za/209-words-to-describe-touch/ and these for smell: https://writerswrite.co.za/75-words-that-describe-smells/

Comments are closed.

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speech sound

• any of the set of distinctive sounds of a given language. Compare phoneme .

“Go” contains the speech sound “o.”

• any of the sounds of the entire phonetic system of a language.

Word History and Origins

Origin of speech sound 1

Example Sentences

It is aptly referred to as “decoding,” because it teaches beginning readers to decipher letters into speech sounds.

Hence salubris oratio means a speech sound in matter, possessing original strength; sana, a temperate and discreet speech.

By the age of two—or less—the child should be able to imitate exactly any speech-sound.

It makes our speech sound like that of a gushing school girl, to whom everything is very, awfully sweet.

It was not a speech sound, but a kind of whine, always coupled with a deep sigh.

He had the power of making his speech sound like a deep, soft music.

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adjective as in complete, healthy

Strongest matches

flawless , intact , robust , safe , sane , solid , stable , sturdy , thorough , vibrant , vigorous

Strong matches

entire , firm , fit , hale , perfect , right , total , well , whole

Weak matches

alive and kicking , effectual , hearty , in the pink , right as rain , substantial , unblemished , undamaged , undecayed , unhurt , unimpaired , uninjured , up to snuff , vital , well-constructed , wholesome , wrapped tight

adjective as in logical, reasonable

accurate , correct , fair , flawless , judicious , precise , proper , prudent , rational , reliable , responsible , satisfactory , sensible , solid , valid , wise

convincing , cool , deep , exact , intellectual , right , satisfying , sober , telling , true

advisable , all there , cogent , commonsensical , consequent , faultless , got it together , impeccable , just , levelheaded , orthodox , profound , right-minded , right-thinking , thoughtful , together , trustworthy , well-advised , well-founded , well-grounded

adjective as in accepted, established

dependable , fair , legal , proper , reliable , safe , solid , stable , valid

faithful , fly , go , kosher , proven , received , recognized , sanctioned , secure , solvent , true , washing

all there , authoritative , canonical , hanging together , holding together , holding up , holding up in wash , holding water , legit , loyal , orthodox , reputable , significant , standing up , tried-and-true

noun as in something heard or audible

accent , harmony , melody , music , noise , note , tone , vibration , voice

din , intonation , loudness , modulation , pitch , racket , report , resonance , reverberation , ringing , softness , sonority , sonorousness , static , tenor , tonality

sonance , sonancy

verb as in produce noise

blare , blow , boom , echo , reflect , resonate , resound , ring , shout , sing

babble , bang , bark , burst , buzz , cackle , chatter , clack , clang , clank , clap , clatter , clink , crash , creak , detonate , emit , explode , hum , jabber , jangle , jar , moan , murmur , patter , play , rattle , reverberate , roar , rumble , shriek , shrill , slam , smash , snort , squawk , thud , thump , thunder , toot , trumpet , vibrate , whine , whisper

verb as in give the impression

appear , look , seem

appear to be , strike as being

Example Sentences

Again, the difference can seem subtle and sound more like splitting hairs, but the difference is important.

And it must make sure that the platform of debate where we can freely exchange ideas is safe and sound.

“Gronkowski” itself never manages to sound more erotic than the name of a hearty Polish stew or a D-list WWE performer.

Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is a different sound for you.

“You can imagine the sound of that gun on a Bronx street,” Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce says.

Sol laughed out of his whiskers, with a big, loose-rolling sound, and sat on the porch without waiting to be asked.

She was flushed and felt intoxicated with the sound of her own voice and the unaccustomed taste of candor.

Bells were pealing and tolling in all directions, and the air was filled with the sound of distant shouts and cries.

It will be remembered that pitch depends upon the rapidity of the sound waves or vibrations.

Miss Christabel blushed furiously and emitted a sound half between a laugh and a scream.

Related Words

Words related to sound are not direct synonyms, but are associated with the word sound . Browse related words to learn more about word associations.

verb as in attack with words

• cut to the quick
• do a number on
• give a black eye
• hurl brickbat

noun as in sound quality

• sound properties
• sound transmission

adjective as in recommended, wise

• appropriate
• commendable

adjective as in in good condition or health

adjective as in logical

• investigative
• problem-solving

Viewing 5 / 312 related words

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.