Bodily Oddities

Voluntary burping

Also called: Burping on command · Voluntary eructation

Swallowing air on purpose and letting it back up as a belch. Most people can learn it. The loudest recorded burp is louder than a motorcycle.

Internal organs Mouth and throat Trick Voluntary
Try it Learnable Party trick Record

How common

Most people can learn it Unknown No formal count exists.

Can you do this?

These are answers from visitors, not a study.

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 within a second. It never reaches the stomach1. Most burps on command are this type. The person swallows a gulp of air, feels it sit in the chest, and relaxes the throat to let it back up. Swallowing air is called aerophagia2.

The world record for the loudest burp is 109.9 decibels, set by Paul Hunn in 20091. That is louder than a motorcycle at close range.

The same skill has a serious use. People who have had their voice box removed can learn esophageal speech. They swallow air and release it in a controlled way, and the vibration of the throat tissues stands in for the vocal cords3.

Try it

  1. Sit upright. Close your mouth and push your tongue back toward your throat.
  2. 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.
  3. Feel the air sit in your chest. Do not let it go down.
  4. Relax your throat, open your mouth, and let the air come back up.
  5. Practise a few times. Stop if you feel bloated. Swallowed air that reaches the stomach has to come out one way or the other.

Sources and further material

  1. Encyclopedia Burping The mechanism, the two types of burp, and the loudness record.
  2. Encyclopedia Aerophagia Swallowing air, on purpose or by habit.
  3. Encyclopedia Esophageal speech People without a voice box who speak by controlled burping.
  4. Video Burp on command tutorial YouTube search.
Mouth Involuntary

Inability to burp

Some people have never burped in their lives. Gas cannot pass a ring of muscle at the top of the food pipe, so it stays trapped. This causes gurgling, bloating, and painful pressure. Since 2019 it has a name and a treatment.

Unknown; probably uncommon
Organs Sound

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.

Everyone
Organs Sound

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.

Everyone
Mouth Trick

Gleeking

Shooting a thin jet of saliva from under the tongue, sometimes a metre or more. About 35% of people do it by accident now and then. Only about 1% can do it reliably on command.

~1% on command Icky