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Hi labbettes ... our physics teacher advised me that when he has the counter on with the radiation source - the Geiger counter is not counting linearly. Every time the speaker goes 'tick' it it counting / jumping in varying amounts as opposed to by ones ... Any suggestions / reasons ... All replies appreciated

The Geiger Muller tube is detecting the radiation and these pulses are feed to the counter and to the sound generator circuit .

The sound generator produces the "tick" sound and it lasts for say 1/10 of a second .
If another pulse or two arrive before the first "tick" sound has finished being produced then these are ignored giving the illusion that only one pulse has arrived ....... the counter circuit on the other hand is quite happy to count all pulses no matter how fast they arrive .

In other words there are bursts of fast pulses happening that the counter is showing but the "tick" sound generator is not .
If the "tick" sound generator was being created by a polyphonic synthesiser rather than a $5 chip then perhaps all the pulses might be heard simultaneously

If it is an old model that is be connected to a transformer , you must use AC and turn down voltage to 6.