Sensory details are descriptive words that appeal to the 5 senses — using sensory imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.

And, although sensory details are often adjectives, sound sensory words are mostly nouns and verbs.

Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.

Examples of hearing words:

• He had a big, booming voice.
• The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.
• As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.

Characteristics of general noise: loud, faint, whisper, boom, silence, ear-piercing, rumble, etc.

Characteristics of animals and nature sounds: roar, bleating, crash, creek, purring, susurration, whine, etc.

Description words of human behaviors: cheer, whooping, scream, wail, hiccup, sneeze, yell, etc.

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