* Articulatory phonetics: This branch studies how speech sounds are produced in the vocal tract. It examines the movements and positions of the tongue, lips, jaw, and other articulators to create different sounds.
* Acoustic phonetics: This branch studies the physical properties of speech sounds as they travel through the air as sound waves. It analyzes the frequency, intensity, and duration of these sound waves using tools like spectrograms.
* Auditory phonetics: This branch studies how speech sounds are perceived by the listener. It investigates how the ear and brain process the acoustic signals and interpret them as meaningful speech.
While these three are the primary branches, it's important to note that there's often overlap between them. Research in phonetics often draws on knowledge from all three areas.