Earthquake sounds are heard during or immediately before an event up to several kilometres around the epicentral area. Sound data as heard by people have been collected by way of microseismic questionnaires, showing that sound audibility does not follow isotropic patterns. The explanation of this effect is found in the behavior of the particular radiation pattern of the P-waves for each earthquake, in connection with its focal mechanism. This result opens the possibility to get more information about the earthquake source parameters in the future and past events, making use of non-instrumental observations. ¿ 2000 American Geophysical Union