This paper presents a semi-empirical formula for predicting the noise spectra of axial flow fans in a free field. The basic assumption made in deriving this formula is that sound radiation from an axial flow fan in a free field is primarily due to the fluctuating pressure exerted on the fan blade surface. This fluctuating pressure is correlated to the lift force per unit length acting on the fan blade, and is subsequently approximated by pressure pulses that decay both in space and time. Accordingly, the radiated acoustic pressure is expressed in terms of superposition of contributions from these pressure pulses, and the line spectrum is obtained by taking a Fourier series expansion. To simulate the narrow and broad band sound spectra, a normal distribution-like shape function is designed which divides the frequency into consecutive bands centered at the blade passage frequency and its harmonics. The amplitude of this shape function at the center frequency of each band is unity but decays exponentially. The decay rate decreases with an increase in the number of bands. Thus, at high frequencies the narrow bands merge to form broad band-like spectra. The noise spectra thus obtained are compared with the measured ones from four different types of axial flow fans running under various conditions, and a favorable agreement in each case is obtained.