from
Stomach Growling and Other Bodily Noises: Embarrassing, But a Sign of Healthavailable
here (Medical Content reviewed by the Faculty of the
Harvard Medical School)
Digestion Is A Noisy Process Noises from the upper digestive tract have probably been recognized as soon as humans appeared on this planet. Some of the earliest physicians wrote scholarly treatises on bowel sounds and, naturally, doctors have applied technical terms to these:
Burping is called
eructation, and describes the act of expelling air from the stomach.
Loud rumbling or gurgling from within the abdomen (often referred to as “stomach growling”) is called
borborygmi and may reflect the normal actions of the stomach and intestines to propel food through the digestive tract (called peristalsis). Interestingly, the exact source of bowel sounds is uncertain, but they are thought to occur as gas moves about with or without the muscular contractions of the intestinal walls.
[...]
Noise that arises from the digestive tract is not just a fact of life, it is a sign of health. Your doctor may listen over the abdomen with a stethoscope, but it is often easy to hear noises even without one. If you have concerns about your digestive tract or the noises it makes, see your doctor for evaluation, especially if you also have abdominal pain. But don’t assume that whenever your stomach growls, it’s time to eat; doing so may do little to reduce the noise but much to increase your weight.