When people laugh, they also exhale through their noses, which causes them to snort. Similar to snoring, the snorting sound is brought on by a blockage in the airway during exhalation.

A variety of noises made by humans when they laugh have been discovered by researchers through study of laughter. According to a study conducted in the US, gender differences in laugh patterns are common. About half of the time, women laugh vocally or sing-song, whereas two thirds of the time, men grunt or snort. In particular, men snort almost one-third of the time, compared to women’s quarter of the time.