Phonetics is the study of speech. It
is concerned with how speech sounds can be categorised¡Bhow they are generated in
the human vocal tract¡Bwhy they each sound different to a listener¡Band how a
listener is able to recognise them. The study of the organisation of speech
sounds in a language is called phonology¡Bwhile
the study of how humans use their vocal apparatus to speak is called
articulatory phonetics. The study of the
quality of the sounds used to signal different pronunciations is called
acoustic phonetics¡Bwhile the study of how we
perceive and decode speech sounds is sometimes called
auditory phonetics. Finally¡Bthe general
field of study in which instruments are used to study speech production and
perception is called experimental phonetics
http://www.speechandhearing.net/entrance/intro.html#Phonetics