diff --git a/Doc/library/wave.rst b/Doc/library/wave.rst
--- a/Doc/library/wave.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/wave.rst
@@ -98,8 +98,9 @@
 
 .. method:: Wave_read.getparams()
 
-   Returns a tuple ``(nchannels, sampwidth, framerate, nframes, comptype,
-   compname)``, equivalent to output of the :meth:`get\*` methods.
+   Returns a :func:`~collections.namedtuple` ``(nchannels, sampwidth,
+   framerate, nframes, comptype, compname)``, equivalent to output of the
+   :meth:`get\*` methods.
 
 
 .. method:: Wave_read.readframes(n)
diff --git a/Doc/whatsnew/3.4.rst b/Doc/whatsnew/3.4.rst
--- a/Doc/whatsnew/3.4.rst
+++ b/Doc/whatsnew/3.4.rst
@@ -156,6 +156,12 @@
 Added ``FAIL_FAST`` flag to halt test running as soon as the first failure is
 detected.  (Contributed by R. David Murray and Daniel Urban in :issue:`16522`.)
 
+wave
+----
+
+The :meth:`~wave.getparams` method now returns a namedtuple rather than a
+plain tuple.  (Contributed by Claudiu Popa in :issue:`17487`.)
+
 
 Optimizations
 =============
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_wave.py b/Lib/test/test_wave.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_wave.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_wave.py
@@ -58,6 +58,22 @@
         output = b'\0' * nframes * nchannels * sampwidth
         self.f.writeframes(output)
 
+    def test_getparams(self):
+        self.f = wave.open(TESTFN, 'wb')
+        self.f.setnchannels(nchannels)
+        self.f.setsampwidth(sampwidth)
+        self.f.setframerate(framerate)
+        self.f.close()
+
+        self.f = wave.open(TESTFN, 'rb')
+        params = self.f.getparams()
+        self.assertEqual(params.nchannels, self.f.getnchannels())
+        self.assertEqual(params.nframes, self.f.getnframes())
+        self.assertEqual(params.sampwidth, self.f.getsampwidth())
+        self.assertEqual(params.framerate, self.f.getframerate())
+        self.assertEqual(params.comptype, self.f.getcomptype())
+        self.assertEqual(params.compname, self.f.getcompname())
+
 
 def test_main():
     run_unittest(TestWave)
diff --git a/Lib/wave.py b/Lib/wave.py
--- a/Lib/wave.py
+++ b/Lib/wave.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
       getcomptype()   -- returns compression type ('NONE' for linear samples)
       getcompname()   -- returns human-readable version of
                          compression type ('not compressed' linear samples)
-      getparams()     -- returns a tuple consisting of all of the
+      getparams()     -- returns a namedtuple consisting of all of the
                          above in the above order
       getmarkers()    -- returns None (for compatibility with the
                          aifc module)
@@ -90,6 +90,10 @@
     big_endian = 0
 
 from chunk import Chunk
+from collections import namedtuple
+
+_result = namedtuple('params',
+                     'nchannels sampwidth framerate nframes comptype compname')
 
 class Wave_read:
     """Variables used in this class:
@@ -206,9 +210,9 @@
         return self._compname
 
     def getparams(self):
-        return self.getnchannels(), self.getsampwidth(), \
-               self.getframerate(), self.getnframes(), \
-               self.getcomptype(), self.getcompname()
+        return _result(self.getnchannels(), self.getsampwidth(),
+                       self.getframerate(), self.getnframes(),
+                       self.getcomptype(), self.getcompname())
 
     def getmarkers(self):
         return None
@@ -398,8 +402,8 @@
     def getparams(self):
         if not self._nchannels or not self._sampwidth or not self._framerate:
             raise Error('not all parameters set')
-        return self._nchannels, self._sampwidth, self._framerate, \
-              self._nframes, self._comptype, self._compname
+        return _result(self._nchannels, self._sampwidth, self._framerate,
+              self._nframes, self._comptype, self._compname)
 
     def setmark(self, id, pos, name):
         raise Error('setmark() not supported')