Phonophobia, also called ligyrophobia or sonophobia, is a fear of or aversion to loud sounds (for example firecrackers)—a type of specific phobia.

[1] The term phonophobia comes from Greek φωνή - phōnē, "voice" or "sound"[3] and φόβος - phobos, "fear".

[4] Ligyrophobics may be fearful of devices that can suddenly emit loud sounds, such as computer speakers or fire alarms.

When operating a device such as a home theater system, computer, television, or CD player, they may wish to have the volume turned down all the way before doing anything that would cause the speakers to emit sound, so that once the command to produce sound is given, the user can raise the volume of the speakers to a comfortable listening level.

This is often an unsettling, even disturbing thing for a person with ligyrophobia to observe, as they anticipate a loud sound when the balloon pops.