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👶 An ultrasound image 🔊 A sound graph
sonogram

sonogram

1 4.6
A picture that shows how high and low parts of a sound change over time
  • noun
  • /ˈsoʊnəˌɡræm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : espectrograma
  • You can see from this sonogram again, this sort of antiphotal pattern that we hear in birdsong on either side of the trachea.

Examples

  • The researchers used a sonogram to visualize how the frequency of the whale's calls changed over time.

  • What about that sonogram I found in your purse?

    Precious Cargo (2016)

  • Wanting to meet the new doctor before the big event, I tagged along to one of the appointments to review the results of a sonogram.

    Academic text (1996)

  • By analyzing the sonogram, scientists were able to identify the distinct patterns in the bird's song.

  • In audio analysis, a sonogram helps to illustrate the variations in sound frequencies across different time intervals.

Synonyms

spectrogram
vssonogram
  • Specialized
1 8.3

A picture that shows how loud high and low sounds are over time

focuses specifically on how sound frequencies change over time
visible speech
vssonogram
  • Specialized
8.6

A picture that shows speech sounds over time

serves broadly for sounds across linguistics, audio, and animal studies

How Detailed

sound spectrograph
  • Specialized
9.1
sonogram
  • Specialized
1 4.6
waveform
  • Specialized
8 5.9

Surface Forms

sonogram singular
sonograms plural

Morphology

sonogram = sono + gram (semi-transparent) = sono + gram

While the components 'sono' and 'gram' are clear, the specific application in audio analysis is specialized.

Etymology

Sonogram comes from sonus 'sound' and -gram 'a drawing or record', like the root in sonic and the ending in diagram, so it is a 'sound drawing' — a visual record that shows how a sound changes over time and helps people study speech and animal calls.