# What are stomach noises?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stomach-noises/272950>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 4, 2004, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stomach-noises/272950 "2004-11-04T10:38:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![D0pBOt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ab097/32.png) [@D0pBOt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D0pBOt)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stomach-noises/272950/1 "2004-11-04T10:38:21Z")

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The burbling, rumbling, spluttering and other array of sounds that emanate from down below… what is going on to cause them?  
I mean, if you extracted some stomach acid into a beaker and dropped food into it, would you still have those noises?

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stomach-noises/272950/2 "2004-11-04T10:53:09Z")

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No you wouldn’t get the noises in a beaker… maybe a bit of fizzing if you put in some alkaline “food” as you get a neutralisation reaction.

The noises are the food being sloshed around, squeezed etc by your stomach muscles, and progressing along the digestive tract. There are some pretty strong muscles down there, which contract in waves to move everything along by a process called “peristalsis”. Air bubbles that you swallowed with the food will rise to the top, adding to the symphony, until you belch them out 🙂

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stomach-noises/272950/3 "2004-11-04T12:57:20Z")

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There’s not a lot of detail in it, but there is a Straight Dope Staff Report on the subject: [Why does your stomach growl?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mstomach.html)

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**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stomach-noises/272950/4 "2004-11-04T13:09:12Z")

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Damn Cecil, I was hoping I’d be the first to whip out borborygmus.

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**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stomach-noises/272950/5 "2004-11-04T13:37:04Z")

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> [@World Eater](#):
>
> Damn Cecil, I was hoping I’d be the first to whip out borborygmus.

Ditto. It was the (very good) name of a mate’s (very bad) band at University (27 years ago). He was, not surprisingly, a medical student.