ART OF LISTENING

What it is to Listen or what listening means? Is it

Lending In Sincerely and Totally one’s Ears Nicely or Letting In Sounds To Enter the ears as any Noise or  Lively, Intensely, Soulfully Thoughtfully Entertain only Nice things or Lovingly Internalizing Savouring Thoroughly and Engulfing Nice thoughts or Leaving Inner self to Sail beyond  Thoughts Emotions and the Nexus of  any senses or Lingering In  Silent Trance and be Engulfed in Neutral state or Learning the Importance of Silence Through Enlightened Nonplussed state of being or Letting the Intellect to Sieve Through Enormous sounds and select Nice ones.

I have found that the word Listen like the word Love has acquired a huge carapace of connotations according to different contexts and has graduated from Lucid Initial auditory or Sound Tracing Ears followed by Nutation [ nodding the head] it has Lend Itself  Seemlessly into Thought provoking Enquiries into Noumenon [object or event that is known (if at all) without the use of the senses]

So, naturally I was thrilled and tempted to Learn more, Inquire further, Search in detail, Track its connotations, Enlist its metamorphosis and Net in its many manifestations. In short I meandered through the many paths of the connotations of the word Listen like a river. Let me take you all into that wonderful journey.

When I read and researched through a vast literature available on the subject I was consternated to find a wide range of meanings to the word to listen or listening, both denotations and connotations starting from passive hearing to probing auscultation to plain lending of ears to intentional attention to active process of learning to aesthetically appreciating silence in solitude [ it may sound ironical] to making enlightened observation, it referred to many more unexpected and unthinkable things covering an entire spectrum starting from puerile and passive hearing to profoundest philosophical truths. So it does include all the things that I have tried to describe in the first paragraph as acronym of the word listen so that the multiple connotations that this word ‘Listen’ has acquired remain etched in memory which can be used as smart and swift reference tool to define it as per the context in which it is used.

Probably my observations or research like many other researches may not be in reality anything new but then the fact is as Andre Gide says, “Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.” 

The Great Tamil saint Tiruvalluvar has devoted one whole chapter consisting of 10 couplets on the

IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING. Wherein he indicates that listening is the greatest wealth.

Parker J. Palmer  says, “Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am”.

Before moving further I take Rachel Louise Carson’s advice , “The discipline of the writer is to learn to be still and listen to what his subject has to tell him”. 

So inevitably I will be filling up this write up with many quotes from many great souls which explain better the multiple meanings of the word Listen through the prism of their writings and talks.

As Montaigne says, “ I quote others only the better to express myself”.

Incidentally the words “listen” and “silent” are anagrams i.e. spelled with the same letters. Listening to silence amid sounds, hidden meaning amidst words, calmness amid turbulent emotions, bringing in quietness to the constantly chattering mind is the hallmark of intense concentration, keen observation, greater understanding and better meditation. This is perhaps what Charles C.Finn means when he says,“I tell you everything that is really nothing, and nothing of what is everything, do not be fooled by what I am saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I am not saying”. 

Dennie Ford too says, “Remember all the answers you need are inside of you. You only have to become quiet enough to hear them”.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat hits the bull’s eye when he writes, “We begin our lives listening to the many sounds surrounding us in the womb.  When we are dying, the last faculty to shut down is usually hearing.  In between, there is so much to see that we seldom take the time to cultivate the art of listening.  Listening uses other practices:  attention, being present, openness.  It is holy work, involving in the inventive phrase of W.A. Mathieu, a Sufi musician, "making an altar out of our ears."        

Henri Nouwen writes, “Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals.”

Neale Donald Walsch too says, “Listen to your feelings. Listen to your Highest Thoughts. Listen to your experience. Whenever any one of these differ from what you’ve been told by your teachers, or read in your books, forget the words. Words are the least reliable purveyor of Truth”.

This is not only useful in understanding the esoteric and conceptual meanings of many ancient scriptures and highly enlightened philosophies but also very useful our interactions in day to life with increasing instances of communications happening with hidden agenda, ulterior motives, lurking suspicions, diplomatic twiddling etc

Nancy Kerrigan writes, “Doubt yourself and you doubt everything you see. Judge yourself and you see judges everywhere. But if you listen to the sound of your own voice, you can rise above doubt and judgment. And you can see forever.” 

Listening is not a passive skill but rather a method of deeply witnessing each other and ourselves with total conscious awareness. That’s why Leo Buscaglia  includes it in the following list “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

Katherine Hannigan says very succinctly “There's more than one way to tell each other things, and there's more than one way to listen, too.” 

Alice Duer Miller observes, “People love to talk but hate to listen. Listening is not merely not talking, though even that is beyond most of our powers; it means taking a vigorous, human interest in what is being told us. You can listen like a blank wall or like a splendid auditorium where every sound comes back fuller and richer.” 

Bryant McGill says, “One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” 

Paulo Coelho writes, “Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World, and it will one day return there”.

David Steindl-Rast in his work ‘A Listening Heart’ writes "Eyes see only light, ears hear only sound, but a listening heart perceives meaning." 

We are created with one mouth and two ears so the intention of creation has been very clear that we must listen more and talk less.

Yet if we pay attention to civil discourse these days, we find that people are so busy shouting at one another it is hard to figure out what anyone is saying. There are many zealots among us and although we can respect the passions and enthusiasms, we are saddened by the inability to listen to others. From talk shows to television news there is a surfeit of chatter along with a rampant fear of silence.

Complete listening is not lending your ears yet simultaneously letting your mind form opinions, judgements, images and comparisons.

Evette Carter writes, “I said what I wanted to say. You heard what you wanted to hear.” 

That’s why Margie Warrell advises, “Communication is defined not by what is being said but by what is being heard. For this reason, it is vital that you gain a good appreciation of how other people will listen—interpret, process, and assign meaning— to what you have to say before you can influence them effectively.” 

The very act of listening starts with some intention or motivation based on our own prejudices and preferences. As  Criss Jami puts it differently as, “It's not at all hard to understand a person; it's only hard to listen without bias.” 

It is because we always feel or at least our ego prefers to follow this instruction ‘Give, but don't allow yourself to be used. Love, but don't allow your heart to be abused. Trust, but don't be naive. Listen to others, but don't lose your own voice.’

 Dominick A. Barbara, writes in The Art Of Listening, “Because of their inner rigidities, fears and anxieties, these listeners dread the mutual exchange of ideas and beliefs. They listen only to what they feel they should be attentive to, blotting out larger areas of wariness and thus avoiding the basic truth involved in issues an situations. They are constantly suspicious and cautious about other people’s reactions and set up emotional filters which disturb effective listening. Because of their hypersensitivity to criticism and rebuff, they are constantly on their guard and on the defensive. They listen with prejudiced opinions, preconceived notions, condemnations and cynical attitudes. They fear facing or listening to the truth about themselves and as a result their hearing becomes colored with absolute judgments, "black and white" evaluations and distorted emotional reactions”.

J.Krishnamurthy says, “If we try to listen we find it extraordinarily difficult, because we are always projecting our opinions and ideas, our prejudices, our background, our inclinations, our impulses; when they dominate, we hardly listen at all to what is being said.... One listens and therefore learns, only in a state of silence, in which this whole background is in abeyance, is quite; then, it seems to me, it is possible to communicate”. 

Here it is most appropriate to read what J.Krishnamurthy says  about The Art of Listening http://www.buddhasangha.com/krishnamurti/jiddu_krishnamurti_listening.htm

But it would be ideal if it were like what M. Scott Peck mentions, “An essential part of true listening is the discipline of bracketing, the temporary giving up or setting aside of one's own prejudices, frames of reference and desires so as to experience as far as possible the speaker's world from the inside, step in inside his or her shoes. This unification of speaker and listener is actually an extension and enlargement of ourselves, and new knowledge is always gained from this. Moreover, since true listening involves bracketing, a setting aside of the self, it also temporarily involves a total acceptance of the other. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will feel less and less vulnerable and more and more inclined to open up the inner recesses of his or her mind to the listener. As this happens, speaker and listener begin to appreciate each other more and more, and the duet dance of love is begun again”.

Sue Patton Thoele says, “Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker. When someone receives us with open-hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand.”

Many times, what people need is not a brilliant mind that speaks but a special heart that listens. We must learn to Speak in such a way that others love to listen to us. Listen in such a way that others love to speak to us.

All relationships get better when we practice the art of proper listening along with proper communication. Of these two while all of know the importance of proper communication we rarely realize the importance of listening. Listening plays a very vital role in all relationship is established through the following writings

Carl Rogers, psychologist observes, "Man’s inability to communicate is a result of his failure to listen effectively, skilfully, and with understanding to another person."

J. Isham  says,“Listening is an attitude of the heart, a genuine desire to be with another which both attracts and heals”.

Dale Carnegie too, writes in ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’

 “The chronic kicker, even the most violent critic, will frequently soften and be subdued in the presence of a patient, sympathetic listener— a listener who will be silent while the irate fault-finder dilates like a king cobra and spews the poison out of his system.” 

Emma Thompson writes, “Indeed -- judicious, consistent parenting is a dream of mine. No judgments, learning space and listening carefully are my goals”.

Ralph Nichols says, “The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.”

Elizabeth Debold writes, “Listening means awareness, openness to learning something new about another person. Interrupting, even for clarification, can seem to be rude, but listening with the intent to learn is an approach to a different type of conversation”.

Paul Tillich goes a step further than the rest and says, “The first duty of love is to listen.” If it were so, then what happens to all the romantic poems and novels? Love is both a creative silence and /or a creative outpouring.

It is this type of  listening that  Jiddu Krishnamurti  mentions , “So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.”

Rachel Naomi Remen says, “The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention.... A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.”

Paul Tillich says, “All things and all people, so to speak, call on us with small or loud voices.  They want us to listen.  They want us to understand their intrinsic claims, their justice of being.  But we can give it to them only through the love that listens”.

Shel Silverstein  says, “Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.” 

 Richard Moss writes “The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention.” 

Vonicle Smith, in  A Handbook Of Communication Skills, edited By Owen Hargie writes, “Receptiveness is a deliberate action, consciously performed with the intention of relating in some way to the other.”

 Avieh Concepcion writes, “To love me, is to know me. To know me, is to learn me. To learn me, is to listen to me. To listen to me, is to care for me. To care for me, says it all”.

Brian Muldoon while writing about  The power of listening says, "Of all the tools available to us in dealing with conflict, none is more important than attentive, intentional listening. Listening helps reduce resistance and opens our thinking to creative solutions. Listening not only clarifies the message but changes both the messenger and the listener. Listening makes it possible for both sides to have a change of heart."   

Catherine de Hueck Doherty writes, “With the gift of listening comes the gift of healing”.

Ceanne Derohan  mentions, “When you really listen to yourself, you can heal yourself.”

Shakti Gawain  writes, “Our bodies communicate to us clearly and specifically, if we are willing to listen to them”.

Brenda Ueland  writes, “Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force...When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand. Ideas actually begin to grow within us and come to life...When we listen to people there is an alternating current, and this recharges us so that we never get tired of each other...and it is this little creative fountain inside us that begins to spring and cast up new thoughts and unexpected laughter and wisdom. ...Well, it is when people really listen to us, with quiet fascinated attention, that the little fountain begins to work again, to accelerate in the most surprising way..” 

David Bohm says, “When you listen to somebody else, whether you like it or not, what they say becomes part of you.”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer writes, “I want to remind us all that the world is listening, all the time. How we are ripples out from us into the world and affect others. We have a responsibility – an ability to respond – to the world. Finding our particular way of living this responsibility, of offering who we are to the world, is why we are here. We are called because the world needs us to embody the meaning in our lives. God needs us awake. The world we live in is a co-creation, a manifestation of individual consciousness woven into a collective dream. How we are with each other as individuals, as groups, as nations and as tribes, is what shapes that dream”.

Jared Sparks observes, “When you talk, you repeat what you already know; when you listen, you often learn something.”

Ernest Hemingway’s famous lines, “I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen”.

Wilson Mizner rightly remarks, “A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something”.

Unfortunately as Lyman K. Steil, Larry L. Barker, & Kittie W. Watson, mention in their work ‘Effective Listening Key To Your Success’ “Adult listening behaviours become habitual. Our listening behaviours have been acquired and reinforced over a long period of time. As adults we rarely think about how we listen or consider that it takes time to change old habits. We listen the way we do because we have learned to listen that way.

Among the most influential operating factors during communication are the filtering agents of senders and receivers. Similar to filters used with a camera lens, filtering agents allows the passage or blockage or coloring of other elements. Consider how professional photographers use filters designed to let in some rays of light while screening out other rays that may ruin or distort a picture. While a filter is in use, it becomes a part of the camera and affects the final outcomes of the picture. Camera filters are changed to get desired results. Similar to a camera lens, filter agents communication with others. Filtering agents such as past work experiences, educational training, opinions, emotions, attitudes, feelings, and language abilities influences how you send and receive messages. Understanding your personal filtering agents puts you in a position to maximize your communication and listening success.

Effective listeners remember that "words have no meaning - people have meaning." The assignment of meaning to a term is an internal process; meaning comes from inside us. And although our experiences, knowledge and attitudes differ, we often misinterpret each other’s messages while under the illusion that a common understanding has been achieved.”

While talking about Meditation Osho says “The art of meditation Is the art of listening With your total being” and "If one can learn how to listen rightly, one has learned the deepest secret of meditation."

Osho also says,"And listening to sounds will be very helpful. Not to any sound in particular, because that becomes a concentration. Mm? this noise of the train... the traffic, some dog starts barking... an airplane passes by; all have to be accepted. Not that you have to concentrate on any sound – listen to all sounds from everywhere. You have just to be alert, listening, with no choice. That will help you immensely and that will become your meditation."

Something more or less similar was involved in the creation of Musique Concrète where in all sorts of sounds were recorded and music created out of it  and the structure of the compositions was not restricted to the normal musical rules of melody, harmony, rhythm, metre and so on. In 1942 the French composer and theoretician Pierre Schaeffer, began his exploration of radiophony when he joined Jacques Copeau and his pupils in the foundation of the Studio d'Essai de la Radiodiffusion Nationale.

Reading through Osho’s Don't Bite My Finger, Look Where I'm Pointing, you come across again, "Start listening to sounds, let music be your meditation. Listen to the sounds, all kinds of sounds. They are all divine – even the market noise, even the sounds that are created in the traffic. This airplane, that train, all sounds have to be listened to so attentively and silently and lovingly... as if you are listening to music. And you will be surprised: you can transform all sounds into music; they are music. All that is needed is our attitude: if we are resistant, the sound becomes noise; if we are receptive, loving, the sound becomes music. The same thing can be noise to somebody and to somebody else, music. If you have not heard Indian classical music it will be just noise. If you love it and you have sympathy for it, it is just out of this world, it is of the beyond. People in the East who are not acquainted with the Western music think this is just crazy noise. Whenever you don't fall in tune with something it becomes noise; when you fall in tune with it, when you start vibrating with it, when there is a harmony between you and it, it becomes music. And great is the joy when you can convert all sounds into music. Then your whole life starts becoming a rhythm."

While lawyers suffer from verbal diarrhoea all judges know the greater importance of listening so it is no wonder Chief Justice John Marshall  said, “To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well”.

Art gets enhanced through listening and learning as Madeleine L’Engle says “When the work takes over, then the artist is enabled to get out of the way, not to interfere. When the work takes over, then the artist listens.” 

Ancient proverbs emphasising the importance of listening abound in many languages, cultures and countries. Here are some samples

Listening looks easy, but it's not simple. Every head is a world. — Cuban Proverb

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold. — Turkish Proverb

To listen well, is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversation. - Chinese Proverb

Who speaks, sows; Who listens, reaps. — Argentine Proverb

The spoken word belongs half to him who speaks, and half to him who listens.
- French Proverb

Let the wise listen and add to their learning and let the discerning get guidance. — Proverbs 1:5

Glen Rifkin - New York Times reports, "June Rokoff, Senior VP for Software Development at Lotus credits her success in turning around the company's position in the software industry to building a team that listens: she made listening the culture of her team." 

Larry King  on listening, "I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening." 

Allison Para Bastien writes, “Listening is noting what, when and how something is being said. Listening is distinguishing what is not being said from what is silence. Listening is not acting like you’re in a hurry, even if you are. Listening is eye contact, a hand placed gently upon an arm. Sometimes, listening is taking careful notes in the person’s own words. Listening involves suspension of judgment. It is neither analyzing nor racking your brain for labels, diagnoses, or remedies before the person is done relating her symptoms. Listening, like labor assisting, creates a safe space where whatever needs to happen or be said can come.”

To sum up Oliver Wendell Holmes express it squarly, “It is the province of knowledge to speak And it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.” 

So do D.J. Kaufman, “Wisdom is the reward for a lifetime of listening ... when you'd have preferred to talk.” 

Robert Louis Stevenson says, “All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared listener”. 

M. Bradley defines, “An intelligent person is someone who listens with understanding”.

 Wilferd A. Peterson while writing on Creative Listening writes,

"One of the most important habits of a creative thinker is to be a good listener. Stand guard at the ear-gateway to your mind, heart, and spirit.
Listen to the good. Tune your ears to love, hope, and courage. Tune out gossip and resentment.
Listen to the beautiful. Listen to the music of the masters. Listen to the symphony of nature--the hum of the wind in the treetops, bird songs, thundering surf. . .
Listen critically. Mentally challenge assertions, ideas, and philosophies. Seek the truth with an open mind.
Listen with patience. Do not hurry the other person. Show them the courtesy of listening to what they have to say, no matter how much you may disagree. You may learn something.
Listen with your heart. Practice empathy when you listen. Put yourself in the other person's shoes.
Listen for growth. Be an inquisitive listener. Ask questions. Everyone has something to say which will help you to grow.
Listen creatively. Listen for ideas or the germs of ideas. Listen for hints or clues that may spark creative projects.
Listen to yourself. Listen to your deepest yearnings, your highest aspirations, and your noblest impulses. Listen to the better person within you.
Listen with depth. Be still and listen. Listen with the ear of intuition to the inspiration of the Infinite."

Read to know more about real listening

http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/daily-quote-list.php?t=Listening

and listen to these talks to know more about real listening

http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en/1933-the-art-of-listening/

No wonder that Ambrose Bierce defines Heaven in his Devil’s Dictionary as “a  place where the wicked cease from troubling you with talk of their personal affairs, and the good listen with attention while you expound your own.”

Those who are interested in knowing in depth the entire gamut of evolutionary biology of the sense of hearing the hidden melodies in the universe may refer to this link in my blog where I have copied the two chapters from the excellent book THE SEVEN MYSTERIES OF LIFE  by the great author GUY MURCHIE http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2013/01/hearing-and-melodies-from-excellent.html

Linguistically however the word listen denotes mostly to  the hearing sense  or sensation produced by the auditory nerves.  Even here there are many words to describe listening very specific contexts  or ways or intentions or methods of listening. Besides since it involves perceiving a wide range of different sound waves there are many words to describe different sounds, noises, voices etc in all spheres from those produced by things, to animals to human beings. So listening and its connected areas throw up a large number of vocabulary especially different types of sounds, noises, voices  etc that we listen to.

Let us glean through some of them

1] listen secretly to a conversation between others without their knowledge is TO EAVESDROP

2] listen closely is TO HEARKEN

3] listening through a  stethoscope is To AUSCULTATE

4] merely allowing and registering all sounds  without any intentional listening is  TO HEAR

5] to hear with intention and attention is TO LISTEN

6] pleasant sound to listen to is EUPHONY

7] sound across a wide range of frequencies, capable of blocking out other noises is WHITE NOISE

8] sound quality produced by over tones rather than volume and pitch is TIMBRE

9]sound regulating device in a microphone or loud speaker is BAFFLE

10] sound system of a particular language i s PHONOLOGY

11] sound that is ugly and jarring is CACOPHONY,DISSONANCE etc

12] sound that is harsh or hoarse is RAUCOUS

13] sounding of the final consonant which normally silent  but when the next word begins with a vowel especially in French language is called LIAISON

14] sound reproduction effect as it coming from all sides is known as SURROUND SOUND

15] sounding or pronouncing of the letter ‘R’ after vowels as in CARD as per spelling as done in Irish style is called as RHOTACISM

16] sounding pleasant and melodious is DULCET

17] sound that is rich or impressively loud is SONOROUS or RESONANT

18] sounds of prolonged vibration is REVERBERATIONS

19] alteration or insertion of soundtrack of a film is to DUB

20] sound change in pitch as the source of the sound approaches or moves away from the listener is known as DOPPLER EFFECT

21]  change in the sound of a consonant  because of the influence of another consonant  is ASSIMILATION

22] change in the vowel sound of a verb as in sing, sang and sung is known as ABLAUT , GRADATION

23] change in the vowel sound of a verb due to the influence of nearby vowel is UMLAUT, MUTATION

24] dampen or deaden a sound is to MUFFLE or MUTE

25] distinct sound as in sharply played musical notes STACCATO

26] fall in sound level at the end  of a sentence is CADENCE

27] harmonious burst of  musical sound  DIAPASON

28] gradual decrease in volume of sound in music is DIMINUENDO OR DECRESCENDO

29] gradual increase in volume is CRESCENDO

30] hissing sound as of ‘s’ or ‘z’ is SIBILANT

31]insertion of an extra sound into a word to make its pronunciation easier is EPENTHESIS

32]letter or symbol that can represent more than one sound is POLYPHONE

33]cutting off of the sound  at the beginning of a word as with squire from esquire is APHAERESIS OR APHESIS

34] cutting off of the sound  at the  end of a word is APOCOPE

35] cutting off of the sound  at the  middle of a word is SYNCOPE OR SYNCOPATION

36] cutting off of the sound  of whole syllable at the  middle of a word as in  deteriate instead of deteriorate is HAPLOLOGY

37] pronunciation of ‘r’ sound as ‘l’ as the Chinese do  is LALLATION

38] adjective for sound or hearing , something relating to sound or hearing is ACOUSTIC

39] adjective for speech sound is PHONETICS

40] relating to speed of sound is SONIC

41] repeated occurrence of the sound or letter at the start of  words is  writing or speech is ALLITERATION

42]sensation of colour evoked by sound is SYNAESTHESIA

43] speech sound identified as significant in a given language serving to distinguish one word from another is PHONEME

44] sound which is highly breath as sound of letter ‘h’ in English- ASPIRATE

45] sound which is highly throaty as sound of letter ‘r’ in French  UVULAR

46] Speech sound produced in the throat GUTTURAL

47] Speech sound as the ‘i’ sound in ‘side’ in which vowel changes in quality during syllable is DIPHTHONG

48] Speech sound as ‘ch’ ‘j’ etc produced by a sudden release of breath is to AFFRICATE

49] Speech sound as ‘d’ ‘t’ produced with tip of the tongue behind upper teeth is ALVEOLAR

50] Speech sound as ‘F’ ‘Z’  formed by partially blocking the flow of breath is FRICATIVE or SPIRANT

51] Speech sound as ‘K’ formed with back of the tongue near soft palate is VELAR

52] Speech sound as ‘m’ ‘p’ involving use of lips is LABIAL

53] study of speech sounds  or pronunciation is PHONETICS OR PHONOLOGY

54] unintended switching of sounds of two or more words is SPOONERISM

55] apparatus to detect sound waves under water is ASDIC, ECHO SOUNDER  or SONAR

56] unit for measuring loudness of sound is DECIBEL

57] words in which sound echos meaning as in ‘kaka’ is ONOMATOPOEIA

58] sound of boiling water is to POPPLE

59]series of sounds or babble of voices is CLAMOUR  or HUBBUB

60] wheezing sound made by diseased lungs is CREPITATION

61] wheezing sound made by congested breathing is STRIDOR,RHONCHUS

62] light tinkling sounds as of key sor small bells JANGLE,TINTINNABULATION

63] loud ,repated clanging noise CLANGOUR

64] loud  echoing noise REVERBERATION

65] murmuring noise as of light wind through trees SUSURRATION

66] murmuring noise of rippling water PURL

67] rustling noise of silk  FROU –FROU

68] shrill or clear noise  clarion

69] shrill chirping noise of crickets STRIDULATION

70] slapping noise  SKELP

71] wailing or lamenting noise KEENING, ULULATION

72] blarring sound- JARRING, RAUCOUS

73] noisy insistent and protesting sound BLUSTERING

74] noisy and lively in an excited or unruly way RUMBUSTIOUS, BOISTEROUS

75] noisy upheaval or confusion COMMOTION, HULLABALOO,BROUHAHA, KERFUFFLE,SCHEMOZZLE, BALLYHOO

76] noisy disturbace or uproar- RUCKUS,RUMPUS

77] noisy merry making or celebration ROISTERING , REVELRY

78] noisy mock serenade to a newly-wed couple CHARIVARI

79] noisy or showy display meant to impress RAZZLE –DAZZLE, RAZZMATAZZ

80] noisy place or scene of uproar or disorder is BEDLAM OR BABEL

81]loud or noisy voice STENTORIAN

 82] place of noisy confusion and utter chaos PANDEMONIUM,MAYHEM

83] screech noisily especially in an argument CATERWAUL

84] voice production giving the impression that the sounds originates elsewhere-VENTRILOQUISM

85] voice training through singing doh-re-mi SOLFEGGIO,SOLMISATION

86] adjust  pitch or tone of one’s voice is  to MODULATE, INFLECT

87] deep or full throated loud voice BOOMING,OROTUND,RESONANT

88] high pitched and shrill voice REEDY

89] hoarse , deep and emotional voice –HUSKY

90  nasla or choky voice-ADENOIDAL

91] unpleasantly loud voice-STRIDENT,STENTORIAN

92] smooth, soft and sweet voice-MELLIFLUOUS

93] voice that has a rhythmical and springy flow – LILTING

94] very loud sound –EAR SPLITTING

95] giving out  a sound- SONOROUS

96] succession of light tapping sounds- PATTERING

97] prolonged and mournful cry of dogs-HOWLING

98] additional sound at end of word=PARAGOGY

99] producing loud sound- PLANGENT

100] high-pitched and piercing sound- SHRILL

101] ringing sound- TINNIENT

102] sharp and grating sound – CREAKY

103] sharp,shrill sound- SQUEAKY

104] producing shrill,grating sound- STRIDULATORY

105] making shrill cry/sound- SCREECHY

106] unpleasantly discordant sound- SQUAWKY

107] whispering sound- SUSURROUS

108] sound low and hoarse- CROAKY

109] hissing sound as frying/burning- SIZZLING

110] sound of hissing esp when passing fast through air- WHIZZING

111] sound produced from percussion instrument- MEMBRANOPHONIC

112] sound of rapid succession of light beats/taps as of rain/footsteps etc= PITTER-PATTERY

113] sound that is trilled as  'r'- HIRRIENT

114] uteering of some sound in pain/grief- GROANING

115] addition of  a sound/syllable at the beginning of a word- PROTHETIC

116] rapid succession of sharp sounds- RATTLING

117] noise produced while frying- FRIZZLING

118] noisy- VOCIFEROUS, STREPITOUS, BOISTEROUS

119] noisy and disorderly condition- LARRIKIN

120] celebrating noisily and wildly- MAFFICKY

121] wild noisy rites- CORYBANTIC

122] reveling noisily- ROISTEROUS

123] artificial high pitched male voice- FALSETTO

124] loud and clear voice- LAMPROPHONIC

125] voice producing two sounds of different pitch simultaneously= DIPLOPHONIC

126] nasal voice- TWANGY

127] voice that is soft- MALACOPHONOUS

All the above referred words you can find in my reverse dictionary of adjectives at

http://www.scribd.com/doc/103216417/Reverse-Dictionary-of-Adjectives or in my blog

http://adjectives-balayogi.blogspot.in/

For a list of sounds made by different animals you get the list here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_sounds