Voluntary burping
Also called: Burping on command · Voluntary eructation
Swallowing air on purpose and letting it back up as a belch. Nobody has counted how many people can do it. The loudest recorded burp reached 112.4 decibels.
How common
Can you do this?
How it works
A burp is gas leaving the stomach or the food pipe through the mouth. A ring of muscle at the top of the food pipe, the upper oesophageal sphincter, opens to let it out1. Most burps are gastric: gas rises from the stomach, the sphincter relaxes, and out it comes.
There is a second type. In a supragastric burp, air is drawn into the food pipe and pushed straight back out almost at once5. It never reaches the stomach15. This type is classed as voluntary1. The person sucks or pushes a gulp of air into the food pipe, feels it sit in the chest, and relaxes the throat to let it back up5. Swallowing air is called aerophagia2.
The same skill has a serious use. People who have had their voice box removed can learn esophageal speech. They pump air into the food pipe and release it in a controlled way, and the vibration of the throat tissues stands in for the vocal cords3.
How common it is
No study has counted how many people can burp on command, so this page gives no figure. The nearest supporting observation is that many children pick up a rough form of the same throat move while competing to say words during a belch3. The one measured number here is a record, not a rate. The loudest burp is 112.4 decibels, set by Neville Sharp in Darwin, Australia, on 29 July 20214. Paul Hunn held the title for the twelve years before that1.
Try it
- Sit upright. Close your mouth and push your tongue back toward your throat.
- Swallow a gulp of air, as if swallowing a large mouthful of water with nothing in it. A sip of a fizzy drink makes this easier.
- Feel the air sit in your chest. Do not let it go down.
- Relax your throat, open your mouth, and let the air come back up.
- Stop if you feel bloated. Swallowed air that reaches the stomach has to come out one way or the other.
Is it a problem?
No. An occasional burp on command is not known to cause harm. Frequent air swallowing, called aerophagia, can cause bloating and discomfort if it becomes a habit done all day, rather than an occasional trick2.
See a doctor if burping happens uncontrollably many times a day without being triggered on purpose. Also see a doctor if it comes with:
- pain,
- weight loss,
- trouble swallowing.
Sources and further material
- Wikipedia Esophageal speech People without a voice box who speak by controlled burping. Notes that many children learn a rough form of it.
- guinnessworldrecords.com Loudest burp (male) 112.4 dB by Neville Sharp, Darwin, Australia, 29 July 2021.
- NCBI Aerophagia, gastric, and supragastric belching: a study using intraluminal electrical impedance monitoring Impedance study in Gut. In a supragastric belch, air is sucked or pushed into the food pipe and expelled almost at once, without reaching the stomach.
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Related oddities
Hiccups
A hiccup is a sudden jerk of the diaphragm followed by the voice box snapping shut. Everyone gets them, even before birth. The record case lasted 68 years.
Stomach growling
The rumble from your belly is gas and liquid being pushed through your gut by waves of muscle. It is louder when you are hungry because there is less food to muffle it.
Gleeking
Shooting a thin jet of saliva from under the tongue. It can happen by accident, often during a yawn, or on purpose. No survey has counted how many people can do it.