Respiratory sounds
Respiratory sounds (or breath sounds) refer to the specific sounds identified through auscultation of the respiratory system[1] with a stethoscope.
In this context, "adventitious sounds" refers to sounds heard apart from the normal sounds of inspiration and expiration.[2]
Types of adventitious breath sounds
Name |
Continuous/discontinuous |
Frequency/Pitch |
Inspiratory/expiratory |
Quality |
Associated conditions |
Example |
Wheeze |
continuous |
high |
expiratory or inspiratory |
whistling/sibilant, musical |
asthma, many others |
|
Stridor |
continuous |
high |
either, mostly inspiratory |
whistling/sibilant, musical |
epiglottitis, foreign body etc |
|
Rhonchi |
continuous |
low |
either, more pronounced in expiratory |
snoring |
bronchitis |
not available |
Inspiratory gasp |
continuous |
high |
inspiratory |
whoop |
whooping cough |
not available |
Rales, crackles or crepitations |
discontinuous |
high (fine) or low (coarse) |
inspiratory |
cracking/clicking/rattling |
pneumonia, congestive heart failure |
|
Hamman's sign (or Mediastinal crunch) |
discontinuous |
|
neither (heartbeat) |
crunching, rasping |
pneumomediastinum, pneumopericardium |
not available |
References
External links
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Hemorrhage |
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Abnormalities
of breathing |
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Other |
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Chest, general |
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anat(n, x, l, c)/phys/devp
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noco(c, p)/cong/tumr, sysi/epon, injr
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