I am listening to the radio, but due to some signal error there are lots of disturbances in the music. What word can I use for this unclear and noisy music?
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4Is it the music itself or the radio signal? The latter is called 'static'.– MitchMay 16, 2012 at 16:29
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1Describe in detail how the music over the radio is unclear and noisy. That will help a lot in finding a particular word to describe it. For instance, the pitch might be modulated up and down by some strange single side band doppler effect. Or the volume might fade in and out. Or there might be a lot of hiss and crackle.– Bobbi BennettMay 16, 2012 at 17:06
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... Or a bug on the speaker's papercone.– KrisMay 16, 2012 at 19:53
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Also see answers in Term for buzzing or hissing sound often created by vibration and Can sound be blurry re distortion.– James Waldby - jwpat7May 17, 2012 at 2:29
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6 Answers
The signal is poor, the music is hazy, indistinct.
It depends on the actual nature of the sounds you are hearing.
Music that is tough to make out because the sounds aren't as sharp and crisp as they should be is called "muddy" (or sometimes "undermodulated").
Music that is tough to make out because of overlaid noise is... well noisy. However, sound folks have all kinds of different names for different kinds of noise. There's hiss and hum and pops. Tapes can exhibit a certian kinds of noise called wow and flutter. Bad radio reception (as Mitch mentioned in the comments) contains static.
I don't know if there's a good technical term, but I often hear people describe such radio signals as "choppy" or "staticky" (meaning there is a lot of noise in the signal that sounds like static).
You could also call it "noisy" (as in "this is a noisy transmission") to mean the signal-to-noise is low, but I suspect many people would be confused as calling a sound "noisy" also has a more common meaning that the sounds has a very loud volume (even if signal is very clear).
answered May 16, 2012 at 16:15
FrustratedWithFormsDesignerFrustratedWithFormsDesigner
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@IgbyLargeman Good call! It’s scandalous how kids are no longer taught (or at least, demonstrably no longer learn) the rules for proper spelling under various inflections. I hate reading “∗picniced” and “∗demosaiced” and “today’s ∗funnys” and “Typhoid ∗Marys”, all of which are totally wrong. Why can’t little Johnny spell? 😢– tchrist ♦May 16, 2012 at 20:54
Maybe interference is the word you are looking for? "The music had a lot of interference."
answered May 16, 2012 at 16:47
Adjective
distorted
distortion noun
distort verb
Electronics. to reproduce or amplify (a signal) inaccurately by changing the frequencies or unequally changing the delay or amplitude of the components of the output wave.
Dictionary.com
Noun
cacophony
harsh discordance of sound; dissonance:
Dictionary.com
answered Jul 11, 2015 at 19:26
jarring
[answers.com:]
adj. disagreeable to the sense of hearing: dry, grating, harsh, hoarse, rasping, raspy, raucous, rough, scatchy, squawky, strident.
Hence, 'a jarring sound'.
