Sounds of Speech

Name: Sounds of Speech
Price: 3.99 USD
Rating: 2.3 (46 reviews)
Author: The University of Iowa Research Foundation

By: The University of Iowa Research Foundation

Education

Features & Capabilities

Notice: This Contains English Only Content. Spanish and German not included.

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:

User Growth & Download Statistics

App

By:

The University of Iowa Research Foundation

Rating:

2.30

(46)

Version:

4.0.0 Last updated: 2024-08-06

Version code:

867914994

Creation date:

2014-01-02

Compatible devices:

Size:

103.99MB

Price:

3.99

URLs:

Website ,Privacy policy

Full description:

Source:

Apple Apps Store

Data ingested on:

2026-06-05

Compare stats and ranking:

Ranking

# 264,778 ▼ 724

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Contact the developer

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Developed by:

The University of Iowa Research Foundation

Apple Apps Store

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sounds-of-speech/id780656219

Website:

https://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu

User Reviews

Users praise the app's clear visuals and real-life videos for teaching phonetics, plus its user-friendly design and multilingual scope. However, recurring issues include degraded video quality, inaccurate articulation modeling, content not matching the website, navigation confusion, and incomplete language coverage, leading some to question value for money and overall reliability.

Pros

Clear, engaging visuals: animations plus real-life video examples help learners see both internal articulator movements and external pronunciation.
User-friendly and straightforward for students and professionals in speech-language pathology and linguistics.
Supports multiple languages and a broad range of sounds beyond English.
Useful for teaching and verifying place, manner, and voicing in phonetics; widely used by students and professionals.
Visualizes invisible speech processes, making articulation concepts easier to understand.

Cons

Video quality has degraded compared to the original website, with pixelation and sometimes distracting video controls.
Animation accuracy concerns: tongue placement and phoneme details are sometimes incorrect or misleading (e.g., /s/, final stops, allophones).
Content not equivalent to the website: missing tools, features, or languages; some promises not fulfilled.
Navigation and UI can be confusing or non-intuitive (definitions page first, jumping between pages to reach content).
Language coverage is inconsistent or incomplete (German/Spanish not fully supported or accurate).

Recent reviews

Not okay when trying to teach a child!

by Cl*****, 2024-10-08

As a speech pathologist, I purchased this to show my students how to produce certain sounds. Unfortunately, the animation of the tongue only represents what the middle of the tongue is doing, not the sides of the tongue. For example, for the /s/ sound, the sides of the tongue brace against the hard palate. The animation on the app, in contrast, suggests that the tongue never touches the hard palate to produce the /s/ sound.

by SL*****, 2024-03-24

I baught this app to usein my class. When I tried it in class full screen option did not work. I am disappointed. The website used to be free and was much more practical.