The sound radiated by isotropic turbulence is computed using inertial range scaling expressions for the relevant two‐time and two‐point correlations. The result depends on whether the decay of Eulerian time correlations is dominated by large scale sweeping or by local straining: the straining hypothesis leads to an expression for total acoustic power given originally by Proudman, whereas the sweeping hypothesis leads to a more recent result due to Lilley. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.