sound card

Printed circuit board that, coupled with a set of speakers, enables a computer to reproduce music and sound effects. During the early 1990s most personal computers were assembled without sound support built-in. With the advent of the CD-ROM and growth in multimedia game, the market for sound cards grew, and by the late 1990s most personal computers were supplied with a sound card fitted as standard, or built into the computer mainboard. Consequently, sound cards are now only needed where high quality audio is required, for gaming or music composition applications.