What You Hear Can Hurt You: Writing Sound in Horror Fiction

How to Build Tension, Threat, and Dread Using Sound Alone

In horror fiction, silence isn’t safe—and sound is never innocent.

A whisper behind a locked door. The soft creak of floorboards in an empty house. A laugh with no mouth behind it.

Sound in horror evokes presence, suggests danger, and triggers primal fear before a single shadow moves. And unlike film, fiction doesn’t rely on jump scares—you have to make your reader hear the horror in their mind.

In this post, we’ll explore how to harness sound to shape atmosphere, build tension, and make your horror stories echo long after the final page.

🔍 What Is Sound in Horror Writing?

Sound isn’t background noise—it’s the invisible threat. It suggests something is there… and worse, that it knows you are too.

Whether it’s:

• footsteps approaching

• the buzz of an old lightbulb

• breathing from an empty room

…sound in horror fiction is presence before confrontation.

Great horror writers know that when the reader hears something without seeing it, dread multiplies.

Why Sound Creates Fear in Fiction

Unlike horror films, writers can’t rely on loud noises or visual shocks. But what you can do is hijack the imagination.

Sound = Implied Threat.

Every tap, knock, hiss, or sudden silence implies something just out of view—and that’s where your reader’s fear lives.

Examples:

• The Haunting of Hill House – knocking, gasping, distant crying

• Bird Box (Josh Malerman) – horror experienced through sound alone

• The Turn of the Screw – ghostly piano music no one claims to play

These stories haunt because readers feel surrounded—even when nothing is seen.

How to Write Sound Effectively in Horror

Use sound as a structure for dread. It can guide pacing, deepen setting, and act as a monster all its own.

Tips:

• Layer sound: Pair contrasting noises (dripping tap + distant thud).

• Use rhythm in prose to mimic heartbeat or panic.

• Let silence speak—a scene where sound stops is more frightening than one where it begins.

Techniques:

• Repetition (e.g., “tap. tap. tap.”) creates unease.

• Delay the source: Don’t reveal what made the noise until it’s too late.

• Pair with setting: A drafty hallway? A creaking attic? Let the house become the mouth.

📝 Writing Prompt: Let the Darkness Listen

Write a scene where your character is in complete darkness.

Suddenly, there’s a sound.

🧠 Focus on:

• A sound that repeats but doesn’t belong

• A voice they almost recognize

• A change in ambient noise (a fridge hum stops, a breath starts)

Let the reader hear the fear—and draw their own monsters.

📣 Final Thoughts: Turn the Volume Up on Dread

Sound is the horror writer’s secret weapon.

Done right, it creates pacing, pressure, and panic—without ever showing the monster.

So next time you write that haunted house, forgotten asylum, or cursed basement scene… don’t start with what’s seen.

Start with what’s heard.

Let sound stalk the reader, one echo at a time.