This paper studies the option of using sound pressure signals to monitor the surface roughness resulting from wood machining process. The findings lead to the conclusion that the sound pressure generated in this process is closely related to the different cutting situations giving satisfactory levels of correlation with the surface roughness, with the best quality being achieved when climb cutting mode was applied. The results suggest that the measurement of sound pressure is a useful method for monitoring wood based material processes and can predict surface roughness as well as the effect of the change of feed rates and the cutting modes on MDF.