Two weeks ago, in episode 562, we spoke about sight, one of our five senses. Today we continue on our theme of senses and you’ll learn vocabulary, expressions and idioms connected to the sense of sound.
Many thanks again to Carmen for her suggestion of the 5 senses.
The Five Senses
Sight
Sound
Touch
Taste
Smell
Sound
What’s the difference between hear and listen?
Noise – an uncontrolled sound, usually with negative connotations
Noisy – making a lot of noise
Quiet – making little/no noise
Loud/Soft – at a high/low volume
Auditory: related to the sense of hearing
To go/be deaf, to be hard of hearing, a deafening noise
Tone (Timbre): The quality or character of a sound, such as whether it’s high, low, harsh, soft, tinny, brassy, rounded, resonant, mellow, etc.
Pitch: The highness or lowness of a sound, determined by the frequency of the sound
In Tune/Out of tune: When the pitch is correct/not correct in music
Some common sounds
Crash – the sound of two hard objects/surfaces hitting each other
Smash – the sound of something hard breaking into pieces, especially glass
Bang – similar sound to crash but more explosive. e.g. bangers/guns
Thud – a dull, heavy sound, like when a large flat object falls to the ground
Boom – e.g. the sound of a distant bomb
Creak – dry sound of friction. e.g. a creaky door, creaky joints
Roar – a full, deep sound. e.g. a roaring lion; a roaring fire
Crackle – a rapid succession of short sharp sounds. e.g. the sound of a wo od fire
Beep – a short high-pitched sound, often electronic
Piercing – A very high-pitched, sharp sound.
Whirring – the whirring of a fan
Buzzing – a bee, an intercom or doorbell (I’ll buzz you up/in)
Clicking – pen, computer mouse button
Rattling – machine, old bike
Muffled – A sound that is softened or unclear.
Shrill – A high-pitched and unpleasant sound.
Rumbling – A deep, continuous sound, like thunder. (My stomach’s rumbling)
Echo – A sound that is reflected back.
Sound Idioms
Safe and sound – unharmed and well
Sound advice – sensible recommendation
Sound asleep – sleeping deeply
Play it by ear – to perform music without reading a score; decide what to do depending on developing circumstances, without planning
Turn a deaf ear – To deliberately ignore so mething
Fall on deaf ears – when information is ignored it falls on deaf ears
Music to my ears – Something that sounds very pleasant
I’m all ears – I’m interested to hear what you have to say
Bend someone’s ear – to talk to someone for a while, often to request something
In one ear, out the other – to hear something but not pay attention to/care about it
An earful – an angry or abusive outburst
Dead silence – Complete and total silence.
Deafening silence (oxymoron) – very noticeable complete lack of sound or of response
Silence is golden – it is better to say nothing or/and make no sound
To be on the same wavelength – To have the same thoughts or opinions as someone
Discussion
How does sound affect your mood?
Are some cultures noisier than others?
If you could remove one sound from the world forever, what would it be and why?
Not counting music, what are your favourite sounds?
If a foreign visitor came to your country, what sounds do you think they would notice first?
…and now it’s your turn to practise your English.
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In next week’s episode: The Five Senses | Touch
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The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’