vaikhari

The first is vaikhari , also called vachika , spoken aloud, the audible chant you can hear from across a room.

Spoken japa works at vaikhari , the audible level; whispered japa softens toward the inward; mental japa works at madhyama , the level of the mind, nearer the source.

…wn the same four levels of speech, from the silent para to the spoken vaikhari .

And at the bottom is vaikhari , "the articulate": physical, audible speech, the word shaped by breath and throat and tongue and lips, the sound that strikes the ear.

The grammarian-philosopher Bhartrhari and the tantric thinkers after him describe four levels. Vaikhari is articulate, audible speech, sound in the air.