the branch of acoustics concerned with speech processes including its production and perception and acoustic analysis
The study of the physical sounds of human speech, concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds (phones), and the processes of their physiological production, auditory reception, and neurophysiological perception, and their representation by written symbols.
The word phonetics comes from the English term phonetic with the plural suffix -s added. It refers to the study of speech sounds as they are produced and perceived.