The role of dimensionality in the identification of sound modes in many-body systems characterized by the spontaneous breaking of translational symmetry is a topic of high interdisciplinary interest in both classical and quantum systems. The emergence of stripes in superfluids is a particularly interesting example where the dimensionality of the system differs from the one of the crystal phase. Here we present a unified hydrodynamic approach for the sound propagation in the stripe phase realized in ultracold dipolar and spin-orbit-coupled Bose gases at zero temperature. Despite the deep difference of the two platforms at a microscopic level, a similar hydrodynamic description can be formulated at a macroscopic level. The main difference between the two platforms is the lack of Galilean invariance in the spin-orbit case, resulting in a different identification of the normal (non-superfluid) component of the density. In both cases the spectrum comprises two sounds, reflecting the spontaneous breaking of the $U(1)$ and translational symmetries. Both sounds exhibit an anisotropic behavior. A comparison with the first and second sounds of the smectic-A liquid crystal is also presented.