Sounds of Speech™
- New improved interface (including Tablet improvements)
- English Dictionary search
- Text translations for: Spanish, Korean, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) (English version only)
Future updates will contain a speech anatomy section.
This application was originally designed at the University of Iowa to help students learning how the sounds of different languages are produced. Since its production, it has become a milestone for phonetics teaching tools around the globe.
Sounds of Speech™ provides a comprehensive understanding of how, physiologically, each of the speech sounds of American English is formed. It includes animations, videos, and audio samples that describe the essential features of each of the consonants and vowels of American English. Sounds of Speech™ is especially useful for students studying English as a second language. Features include:
- A real-time animated articulatory diagram for each consonant and vowel.
- An annotated step-by-step description of how each speech sound is produced.
- Facial view video (not available for Android 2.2 and 2.3) and audio samples for each speech sound.
- Navigation that reflects the classification of consonants by manner, place or voicing and of vowels by tongue position.
- An interactive diagram of the articulatory anatomy.
- Ability to see and hear native speakers pronounce sound for each consonant and vowel.
Please send any questions or issues to [email protected].
(If you bought the version prior to Jan 2nd 2014 and would like an update to the newest version please contact us at [email protected], thank you and we apologize for the inconvenience )
Category : Education
Reviews (28)
Terrible. This app doesn't compare to the website I used to use some years ago. It used to be excellent, and it explained many aspects such as voice, manner and place of articulation. It explained all the consonants and vowels. I don't like its new layout. It's not useful. Now it is just a few examples. Can you explain me what happened with the original one?
Unfortunately I wish I'd read the reviews. I bought this app believing I was supporting uiowa's Sounds of Speech that was available online. That website is definitely with the investment. Unfortunately this app is not, unless you are only interested in English. I feel like I was fooled into paying for something that was a misrepresented what it was.
I used the website to teach Spanish pronunciation for years. I am happy to pay for the app, but Spanish is no longer supported. It is a real shame. This was a fantastic resource.
Very bad, you can't compare it with the one in the website. I can't understand why they deleted it.
very nice and easy to learn.
Just installed.. Crashed twice trying to exit. It's a large app, please provide ability to move to ExtSD Card. Internal storage is a valuable commodity these days, and this app is hardly a daily driver for me as an English teacher. Would be nice to include listings/links of all the YouTube videos used, so I can just tap/select sounds I wish to target. Where's the "search dictionary" function shown in your screenshots?
Search is supposed to be default tab. Examples are missing. IPA is not written in standardized formats. You should use the Web version $_$
The web portion of your site disappeared in the middle of my work. Since I couldn't access it I bought app and it has nothing that I need. I can't get the videos with descriptions just words spelled in useless ipa
The latest version resolved all the problems I had including a more tablet friendly interface. The addition of a word search and conversion to IPA is an added bonus that I know my students will appreciate. Excellent work!!!
This is a wonderful tool. I find it very useful as a music teacher. Well Done!!!
This is such a wonderful way to see the physical aspects of how sounds are made. Clear and easy to use.
Why the consonant / r / sounds exactly the same as the vowel /er/?
This app is decent for academics, but it could have far more potential as a tool for teaching struggling children with artic errors. Maybe a sub menu with kid friendly explanations of positioning and stimulability exercises could be added in that regard. A larger animation for tablets wouldn't hurt either.
and after quit you always get some error messages... Without these 2 issues it would be 5 star, in current state - only 1 (it is practically unusable if you have to restart app after every one minute...) (I use the app on Xperia Z2)
When I first downloaded this app in late 2015 it was amazing! Exactly what I needed at that time. Since my phone updated to Lollipop, it seems that there is a problem with video playback. Instead of playing a video if just the sound I select, it plays a bunch of sounds in sequence before returning to the sound page. Given what I'm using it for this is very frustrating behaviour, and renders the app completely useless for my purposes. Any chance of an update to fix this problem?
I have had this on my tablet for less than 5 minutes and after seeing the tongue movement modeled for him, my son just made the clearest /r/ sound he's ever made in his life! ...I just wish the biomechanical model showed tongue positions/movements for ALL of the /r/ phonemes. Of which there are 8 basic and several dozen variations. An SOS app dedicated to /r/ would be a godsend!
I love this app! (: My linguistics professor recommended it and it's definitely helping. The only thing I'm having trouble with is that the app is saying the videos aren't avaliable :(
This should include far more information - like at the very least show IPA charts. I will keep it on my phone since I already paid for it but had I known it was this simplistic I wouldn't have and wouldn't suggest it to others.
I downloaded on July 4, 2014. the Consonant part is the same as on their website. but most of the vowels don't have sound on my Android phone.
I have used the web version before. Great work. I personally see a product that use the work here with a little add-on and sell for a much larger price tag without any credit given to the actual owner of course.
İt is quitely different from explanation. Because it not contains video that she pronounce words. I could'nt understand why it is lack of contents and thought it is so expensive cause it contains just animations
Absolutely no follow up on problems in pcs and Androids. Reflects poorly on Iowa U. & Apple/Google.
For the price it is a decent app however with Android update to Lollipop the video does not playback. U of Iowa any chance an update will fix this bug?
After two times working the sound stop. The examples sound are not working after three times.
I can't watch the video on my phone.
The app is just for English sounds. It should have at least the IPA chart. The videos are not very good. E.g the s and z sounds are sibilant, why?
The only and only app in this field! I use it a lot for my uni phonology class!! Thank you from an italian student!
This app is a great tool for learning English and for learning the International Phonetic Alphabet. I came here after enjoying the Sounds of Speech website for years. I'd love to see some color added to the app. It seems silly, but the website had great aesthetics, and this one looks like they skimped on design. Adding a little color would help visually distinguish the categories from subcategories of phonemes.