聞こえる【きこえる】

聞こえる means "can be heard": a sound reaches you whether or not you are trying to listen. The sound takes が, the place it comes from takes から, and the person who hears it, when named, takes に or には.

The sound is the subject, so it never takes を.

• × 音楽を聞こえる → 音楽が聞こえる

聞こえる or 聞ける

きく聞く is "listen", something you do. Its potential, きける聞ける, says you are able to listen because you have the means or the chance – a radio show, a concert. 聞こえる says the sound itself reaches your ears.

聞こえる already means "can hear", so it has no potential form of its own: ×聞こえられる.

Sounding like

After an adjective, a noun or a clause, 聞こえる means "sound": how something you hear comes across. An い-adjective takes the く-form, a な-adjective or a noun takes に, and a clause takes ように.

Usage notes

These go beyond a sound reaching you.

聞こえてくる

With くる, the sound drifts towards you.

Someone's hearing

With みみ耳 as the subject, 聞こえる is about how well a person hears.