A method for monitoring sound in a process system is provided that includes sensing sound at a specified location, capturing the sensed sound as sound data, and forwarding the sound data from the specified location to a process control system. The sound data is analyzed at the process control system and a determination is made regarding whether or not to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data. For a particular embodiment, the analysis of the sound data includes comparing the sound data to at least one stored sound, and the determination regarding whether or not to issue a warning based on the analysis of the sound data is made based on a level of similarity between the sound data and the stored sound.