How to Use the Interactive IPA Chart on ipachart.com

Open ipachart.com in a modern browser with JavaScript and HTML5 audio enabled, then click any IPA symbol to hear a recording of the sound it represents. That's the core interaction: symbol in, audio out. The chart is a reference and ear-training tool, not a pronunciation standard — the site itself notes the recordings are "only a rough guide" because real speech varies by language and context. For example, English voiceless plosives are usually aspirated (a puff of air), but the voiceless plosives on this page are not.

Before you start: what the page needs

• JavaScript enabled. Without it, the chart won't load at all; the page shows a message asking you to enable JavaScript or upgrade to a modern browser.
• HTML5 audio support. Any current version of a popular browser will do.
• No login or account is mentioned on the page, so you can start clicking immediately.

How to hear a sound

1. Load ipachart.com.
2. Find the symbol you want in one of the sections: Vowels, Pulmonic consonants, Non-pulmonic consonants, Other symbols, or Affricates.
3. Click the symbol.
4. Listen to the audio clip that plays.

That's the whole loop. Repeat for each symbol you want to compare.

Reading the chart correctly

Two layout conventions matter, and getting them wrong is the most common source of confusion:

So in a pair like p b, the b on the right is voiced. In a vowel pair, the right-hand symbol carries rounding. Grey-shaded areas in the pulmonic consonant table mark articulations judged impossible — there's nothing to click there.

What each section contains

• Vowels — arranged by height (close, close-mid, open-mid, open) and backness (front, central, back).
• Pulmonic consonants — plosives, nasals, trills, taps/flaps, fricatives, lateral fricatives, approximants, and lateral approximants, organized by place of articulation (bilabial through glottal).
• Non-pulmonic consonants — clicks, voiced implosives, and ejectives, each with a place label (e.g., ʘ bilabial click, ɓ bilabial implosive, pʼ bilabial ejective).
• Other symbols — a short list including ʍ, w, ɥ, ʜ, ʢ, ʡ, ɕ, ʑ, ɺ, and ɧ.
• Affricates — eight listed, four voiceless (t͡s, t͡ʃ, t͡ɕ, ʈ͡ʂ) and four voiced (d͡z, d͡ʒ, d͡ʑ, ɖ͡ʐ).

A practical way to use it

Pick a contrast you keep mixing up and click back and forth between the two symbols — for instance a voiced/voiceless pair in the same column, or a rounded/unrounded vowel pair. Because the recordings are isolated and unaspirated, treat them as a way to isolate one articulatory feature at a time rather than as a model of how the sound behaves in connected speech. When you move to real words, expect the surrounding sounds and language to change what you hear.

Common snags

• Nothing plays when you click. Check JavaScript first — the chart is inert without it.
• The sound doesn't match what you expected from a language you know. That's expected: the clips are context-free, and the page warns that pronunciation varies by language and context.
• You can't find a symbol. Check whether it's in "Other symbols" or "Affricates" rather than the main consonant table; affricates and several co-articulated sounds are listed separately.

About the audio

The page credits each audio clip to Peter Isotalo, User:Denelson83, and the UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive.