phone ringing

Phone ringing describes the sound a telephone makes to signal an incoming call.

The phrase works as both a noun phrase and a present participle: I heard a phone ringing in the distance, The phone ringing woke me up.

It can serve as a compound modifier: that phone-ringing sound effect.

The "ring" derives from the bell that early telephones used, though modern devices may chirp, buzz, or play music instead.