We posit a classification of sounds useful for studies of sound recognition and identification that accounts for both signal properties (source sound characteristics) and human perception (sound uses). This classification is split into four main branches: (1) systemic (speech and music) sounds, (2) environmental sounds, (3) warning sounds, and (4) animal sounds. We describe the differences between each in terms of criteria related to perception, production and goal. We outline the advantages of our classification, which considers the use of a sound within the context of a communication act, for example, within linguistics; or in harmonics, for musicology. Considering a sound both as a set of acoustic characteristics perceived by a human, and as having particular uses determined by a human, this classification permits a meaningful approach to the study of sound from object- and human-centered perspectives.