We suggest a simple theory to describe the sound generated by small periodic perturbations of a cylindrical arc in a dense gas. Theoretical analysis was done within the framework of the non-selfconsistent channel arc model and supplemented with time-dependent gas dynamic equations. It is shown that an arc with power amplitude oscillations on the order of several percent is a source of sound whose intensity is comparable with external ultrasound sources used in experiments to increase the yield of nanoparticles in the high pressure arc systems for nanoparticle synthesis.