Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that focuses on the study of speech sounds. It examines the production, transmission, and perception of sounds in human language. Phonetic analysis involves breaking down speech into individual sounds, known as phonemes, and studying their characteristics, including articulation, acoustic properties, and auditory perception.
Phonetic symbols are visual representations of speech sounds. They provide a standardized system for transcribing and describing sounds across different languages and dialects. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is the most widely used system of phonetic notation.