To put it more specifically:
- is
inaudible
reserved for when you can't hear anything, or does it also apply when you can't hear enough? - is there a more specific word than
unintelligible
to mean 'acoustically unintelligible'?
To put it more specifically:
inaudible
reserved for when you can't hear anything, or does it also apply when you can't hear enough?unintelligible
to mean 'acoustically unintelligible'?Inaudible is used in typed transcripts of taped police interviews where I come from, and covers both cases: it means that the words spoken cannot be heard clearly.
<INAUDIBLE>
.
Inaudible is used to describe a sound that is too soft to be heard. The reason why it is too soft is irrelevant. It also does not necessarily have to refer to a voice or speech, and, strictly speaking, implies that the sound cannot be heard at all.
As for alternatives to unintelligible, mutter might be a good choice. To emphasise the unintelligibility of a mutter, it can be described as an indistinct mutter or incoherent mutter or variants thereof.