The story of 向

direction, towards

向 is composed of the variant of 宀 (house) and 口 (mouth). 宀 is the picture of a house, while 口 is the picture of a mouth, so 向 depicts a mouth speaking inside a house, means sound or echo, but such meaning has been replaced by 響. House is a confined space, and the direction of the voice is clear when speaking indoors.