N. V. Tatsenko introduction to theoretical phonetics of english

articulatory aspect;

auditory aspect;

acoustic aspect;

functional aspect (linguistic, social).

From the point of view of the aspects of speech, four traditional branches of theoretical phonetics are generally recognized:
Articulatory phonetics (артикуляторна фонетика) is the study of the way speech sounds are made ('articulated') by the vocal organs, i.e. it studies the way in which the air is set in motion, the movements of the speech organs and the coordination of these movements in the production of single sounds and trains of sounds. These refer to the human vocal tract (or to the speech organs) and are used to describe and classify sounds. This branch of phonetics refers to speech production, giving the basic understanding of speech anatomy. Articulatory phonetics employs experimental methods.
Auditory phonetics (аудитивна фонетика) studies the perceptual response to speech sounds, as mediated by ear, auditory nerve and brain, i.e. its interests lie more in the
sensation of hearing, which is brain activity, than in the psychological working of the ear or the nervous activity between the ear and the brain. The means by which we discriminate sounds - quality, sensations of pitch, loudness, length, are relevant here. This branch of phonetics refers to speech perception. Auditory phonetics also employs experimental methods.
Articulatory and auditory phonetics are sometimes combined into one branch called physiological phonetics. The reason lies in the fact that sound production and sound perception are physiological processes.
Acoustic phonetics (акустична фонетика) studies the physical properties of speech sound, as transmitted between the speaker’s mouth and the listener’s ear with the help of spectrograms (quality, length, intensity, pitch, and others). This branch of phonetics refers to speech physics, it is interdisciplinary. It also employs experimental methods.