Phonetics is the study of speech from different perspectives. It is broken down into three types:

Articulatory phonetics: Studies the movement of the vocal tract during speech. The vocal tract is the passages above the larynx where air passes during speech.

Acoustic phonetics: Studies the physical properties of speech. It analyzes sound wave signals that occur within speech through varying frequencies, amplitudes, and durations.

Auditory phonetics: Studies the processes underlying human speech perception. It investigates the anatomy and physiology of the ear and the brain.