diff --git a/demo/index.html b/demo/index.html
index ee765c2057..daa60b6f5e 100644
--- a/demo/index.html
+++ b/demo/index.html
@@ -38,6 +38,17 @@ <h2>Options</h2>
               </select>
             </label>
           </p>
+          <p>
+            <label>
+              bellStyle
+              <select id="option-bell-style">
+                <option value="">none</option>
+                <option value="sound">sound</option>
+                <option value="visual">visual</option>
+                <option value="both">both</option>
+              </select>
+            </label>
+          </p>
           <p>
             <label>scrollback <input type="number" id="option-scrollback" value="1000" /></label>
           </p>
diff --git a/demo/main.js b/demo/main.js
index 9098c2f02d..cb346de2af 100644
--- a/demo/main.js
+++ b/demo/main.js
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ var terminalContainer = document.getElementById('terminal-container'),
       cursorBlink: document.querySelector('#option-cursor-blink'),
       cursorStyle: document.querySelector('#option-cursor-style'),
       scrollback: document.querySelector('#option-scrollback'),
-      tabstopwidth: document.querySelector('#option-tabstopwidth')
+      tabstopwidth: document.querySelector('#option-tabstopwidth'),
+      bellStyle: document.querySelector('#option-bell-style')
     },
     colsElement = document.getElementById('cols'),
     rowsElement = document.getElementById('rows');
@@ -53,6 +54,9 @@ optionElements.cursorBlink.addEventListener('change', function () {
 optionElements.cursorStyle.addEventListener('change', function () {
   term.setOption('cursorStyle', optionElements.cursorStyle.value);
 });
+optionElements.bellStyle.addEventListener('change', function () {
+  term.setOption('bellStyle', optionElements.bellStyle.value);
+});
 optionElements.scrollback.addEventListener('change', function () {
   term.setOption('scrollback', parseInt(optionElements.scrollback.value, 10));
 });
diff --git a/fixtures/typings-test/typings-test.ts b/fixtures/typings-test/typings-test.ts
index 43ca18bc55..0e82f788f3 100644
--- a/fixtures/typings-test/typings-test.ts
+++ b/fixtures/typings-test/typings-test.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+/**
+ * @license MIT
+ */
+
 /// <reference path="../../typings/xterm.d.ts" />
 
 import { Terminal } from 'xterm';
diff --git a/src/InputHandler.ts b/src/InputHandler.ts
index 61fe581e8b..f2d9775113 100644
--- a/src/InputHandler.ts
+++ b/src/InputHandler.ts
@@ -106,14 +106,7 @@ export class InputHandler implements IInputHandler {
    * Bell (Ctrl-G).
    */
   public bell(): void {
-    if (!this._terminal.options.visualBell) {
-      return;
-    }
-    this._terminal.element.style.borderColor = 'white';
-    setTimeout(() => this._terminal.element.style.borderColor = '', 10);
-    if (this._terminal.options.popOnBell) {
-      this._terminal.focus();
-    }
+    this._terminal.bell();
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/Interfaces.ts b/src/Interfaces.ts
index e9db3f9c5e..943003aec3 100644
--- a/src/Interfaces.ts
+++ b/src/Interfaces.ts
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ export interface IInputHandlingTerminal extends IEventEmitter {
   viewport: IViewport;
   selectionManager: ISelectionManager;
 
+  bell(): void;
   focus(): void;
   convertEol: boolean;
   updateRange(y: number): void;
@@ -113,6 +114,8 @@ export interface IInputHandlingTerminal extends IEventEmitter {
 }
 
 export interface ITerminalOptions {
+  bellSound?: string;
+  bellStyle?: string;
   cancelEvents?: boolean;
   colors?: string[];
   cols?: number;
@@ -123,14 +126,12 @@ export interface ITerminalOptions {
   disableStdin?: boolean;
   geometry?: [number, number];
   handler?: (data: string) => void;
-  popOnBell?: boolean;
   rows?: number;
   screenKeys?: boolean;
   scrollback?: number;
   tabStopWidth?: number;
   termName?: string;
   useFlowControl?: boolean;
-  visualBell?: boolean;
 }
 
 export interface IBuffer {
diff --git a/src/Terminal.ts b/src/Terminal.ts
index 32f9ea2311..ff42d13969 100644
--- a/src/Terminal.ts
+++ b/src/Terminal.ts
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import { CHARSETS } from './Charsets';
 import { getRawByteCoords } from './utils/Mouse';
 import { CustomKeyEventHandler, Charset, LinkMatcherHandler, LinkMatcherValidationCallback, CharData, LineData } from './Types';
 import { ITerminal, IBrowser, ITerminalOptions, IInputHandlingTerminal, ILinkMatcherOptions, IViewport, ICompositionHelper } from './Interfaces';
+import { BellSound } from './utils/Sounds';
 
 // Declare for RequireJS in loadAddon
 declare var define: any;
@@ -147,8 +148,8 @@ const DEFAULT_OPTIONS: ITerminalOptions = {
   geometry: [80, 24],
   cursorBlink: false,
   cursorStyle: 'block',
-  visualBell: false,
-  popOnBell: false,
+  bellSound: BellSound,
+  bellStyle: null,
   scrollback: 1000,
   screenKeys: false,
   debug: false,
@@ -178,6 +179,8 @@ export class Terminal extends EventEmitter implements ITerminal, IInputHandlingT
   private helperContainer: HTMLElement;
   private compositionView: HTMLElement;
   private charSizeStyleElement: HTMLStyleElement;
+  private bellAudioElement: HTMLAudioElement;
+  private visualBellTimer: number;
 
   public browser: IBrowser = <any>Browser;
 
@@ -470,6 +473,7 @@ export class Terminal extends EventEmitter implements ITerminal, IInputHandlingT
         this.viewport.syncScrollArea();
         break;
       case 'tabStopWidth': this.setupStops(); break;
+      case 'bellStyle': this.preloadBellSound(); break;
     }
   }
 
@@ -678,6 +682,9 @@ export class Terminal extends EventEmitter implements ITerminal, IInputHandlingT
     this.viewportScrollArea.classList.add('xterm-scroll-area');
     this.viewportElement.appendChild(this.viewportScrollArea);
 
+    // preload audio
+    this.preloadBellSound();
+
     // Create the selection container.
     this.selectionContainer = document.createElement('div');
     this.selectionContainer.classList.add('xterm-selection');
@@ -1864,12 +1871,16 @@ export class Terminal extends EventEmitter implements ITerminal, IInputHandlingT
    * Note: We could do sweet things with webaudio here
    */
   public bell(): void {
-    if (!this.options.visualBell) return;
-    this.element.style.borderColor = 'white';
-    setTimeout(() => {
-      this.element.style.borderColor = '';
-    }, 10);
-    if (this.options.popOnBell) this.focus();
+    this.emit('bell');
+    if (this.soundBell()) this.bellAudioElement.play();
+
+    if (this.visualBell()) {
+      this.element.classList.add('visual-bell-active');
+      clearTimeout(this.visualBellTimer);
+      this.visualBellTimer = window.setTimeout(() => {
+        this.element.classList.remove('visual-bell-active');
+      }, 200);
+    }
   }
 
   /**
@@ -2261,6 +2272,27 @@ export class Terminal extends EventEmitter implements ITerminal, IInputHandlingT
 
     return matchColorCache[hash] = li;
   }
+
+  private visualBell(): boolean {
+    return this.options.bellStyle === 'visual' ||
+        this.options.bellStyle === 'both';
+  }
+
+  private soundBell(): boolean {
+    return this.options.bellStyle === 'sound' ||
+        this.options.bellStyle === 'both';
+  }
+
+  private preloadBellSound(): void {
+    if (this.soundBell()) {
+      this.bellAudioElement = document.createElement('audio');
+      this.bellAudioElement.setAttribute('preload', 'auto');
+      this.bellAudioElement.setAttribute('src', this.options.bellSound);
+      this.helperContainer.appendChild(this.bellAudioElement);
+    } else if (this.bellAudioElement) {
+      this.helperContainer.removeChild(this.bellAudioElement);
+    }
+  }
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/utils/Sounds.ts b/src/utils/Sounds.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6d20c67122
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/Sounds.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+/**
+ * @license MIT
+ */
+
+// Source: https://freesound.org/people/altemark/sounds/45759/
+// This sound is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
+// (CC BY 3.0) license. It was created by 'altemark'. No modifications have been
+// made, apart from the conversion to base64.
+export const BellSound = 'data:audio/wav;base64,UklGRigBAABXQVZFZm10IBAAAAABAAEARKwAAIhYAQACABAAZGF0YQQBAADpAFgCwAMlBZoG/wdmCcoKRAypDQ8PbRDBEQQTOxRtFYcWlBePGIUZXhoiG88bcBz7HHIdzh0WHlMeZx51HmkeUx4WHs8dah0AHXwc3hs9G4saxRnyGBIYGBcQFv8U4RPAEoYRQBACD70NWwwHC6gJOwjWBloF7gOBAhABkf8b/qv8R/ve+Xf4Ife79W/0JfPZ8Z/wde9N7ijtE+wU6xvqM+lb6H7nw+YX5mrlxuQz5Mzje+Ma49fioeKD4nXiYeJy4pHitOL04j/jn+MN5IPkFOWs5U3mDefM55/ogOl36m7rdOyE7abuyu8D8Unyj/Pg9D/2qfcb+Yn6/vuK/Qj/lAAlAg==';
diff --git a/src/utils/TestUtils.test.ts b/src/utils/TestUtils.test.ts
index 8e18c1f47f..8d47556093 100644
--- a/src/utils/TestUtils.test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/TestUtils.test.ts
@@ -97,6 +97,10 @@ export class MockInputHandlingTerminal implements IInputHandlingTerminal {
     throw new Error('Method not implemented.');
   }
   convertEol: boolean;
+  bell(): void {
+    throw new Error('Method not implemented.');
+  }
+
   updateRange(y: number): void {
     throw new Error('Method not implemented.');
   }
diff --git a/src/xterm.css b/src/xterm.css
index 89daf9e3e1..14b0a58d4e 100644
--- a/src/xterm.css
+++ b/src/xterm.css
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@
 
 .terminal .terminal-cursor {
     position: relative;
+    transition: opacity 150ms ease;
 }
 
 .terminal:not(.focus) .terminal-cursor {
@@ -108,6 +109,7 @@
     content: '';
     position: absolute;
     background-color: #fff;
+    transition: opacity 150ms ease;
 }
 
 .terminal.focus.xterm-cursor-style-bar:not(.xterm-cursor-blink-on) .terminal-cursor::before {
@@ -124,6 +126,14 @@
     height: 1px;
 }
 
+.terminal.focus.xterm-cursor-style-block.visual-bell-active .terminal-cursor {
+  opacity: 0.5;
+}
+.terminal.focus.xterm-cursor-style-bar.visual-bell-active .terminal-cursor::before,
+.terminal.focus.xterm-cursor-style-underline.visual-bell-active .terminal-cursor::before {
+  opacity: 0;
+}
+
 .terminal .composition-view {
     background: #000;
     color: #FFF;
diff --git a/typings/xterm.d.ts b/typings/xterm.d.ts
index 6758b94fe1..ee7d68d87a 100644
--- a/typings/xterm.d.ts
+++ b/typings/xterm.d.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,16 @@
  * An object containing start up options for the terminal.
  */
 interface ITerminalOptions {
+  /**
+   * A data uri of the sound to use for the bell (needs bellStyle = 'sound').
+   */
+  bellSound?: string;
+
+  /**
+   * The type of the bell notification the terminal will use.
+   */
+  bellStyle?: 'none' | 'visual' | 'sound' | 'both';
+
   /**
    * The number of columns in the terminal.
    */