The influence of the surface roughness of solid conducting spheres on the response of a phase-Doppler anemometer (PDA) is described by using a ray theory model. A rough particle surface is modeled as an ensemble of distorted spheres. First- and second-order reflection and diffraction are considered for far-field calculations of the PDA phase difference. The numerical simulations are accompanied and supported by experimental results. Single rough Sn spheres are captured inside an electrodynamic trap and investigated with a standard phase-Doppler system.