Hamman's sign

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Hamman's sign (rarely, Hammond's sign[1] or Hammond's crunch[2]) is a crunching, rasping sound, synchronous with heartbeat, heard over the precordium in spontaneous mediastinal emphysema. Named for Johns Hopkins clinician Louis Hamman, M.D.

This sound is heard best over the left lateral position. It has been described as a series of precordial crackles that correlate with the heart beat and not the respirations. Hamman's crunch is caused by pneumomediastinum or pneumopericardium, and is often associated with Boerhaave syndrome. This is sometimes seen in patients with esophageal rupture.