sound articulated with tongue near or pressed against hard ridge in the roof of your mouth

The sound articulated with the tongue near or pressed against the hard ridge in the roof of the mouth is called an "alveolar" sound. The hard ridge right behind the upper teeth is known as the alveolar ridge, and when the front part of the tongue touches or comes close to this ridge, alveolar consonants are produced. Examples of alveolar sounds in English include the consonants /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, and /z/. This area is crucial for many speech sounds since the tongue interacting with the alveolar ridge creates effective constrictions in the vocal tract for these consonants.