Respiratory sounds


Respiratory sounds, also known as lung sounds or breath sounds, are the specific sounds generated by the movement of air through the respiratory system. These may be easily audible or identified through auscultation of the respiratory system through the lung fields with a stethoscope as well as from the spectral characteristics of lung sounds. These include normal breath sounds and added sounds such as crackles, wheezes, pleural friction rubs, stertor, and stridor.
Description and classification of the sounds usually involve auscultation of the inspiratory and expiratory phases of the breath cycle, noting both the pitch, medium or high ) and intensity of the sounds heard.

Normal breath sounds

Normal breath sounds are classified as vesicular, bronchovesicular, bronchial or tracheal based on the anatomical location of auscultation. Normal breath sounds can also be identified by patterns of sound duration and the quality of the sound as described in the table below:
NameLocation where heard normallyQuality of soundSound durationExample
trachealover the tracheavery loudexpiratory sound duration is equivalent to inspiratory sound
bronchialover the manubriumloud, high pitchedexpiratory sound duration is longer than inspiratory sound
bronchovesicularanteriorly between the 1st and 2nd intercostal space;
posteriorly in-between the scapulae		intermediateexpiratory sound duration is about equivalent to inspiratory sound
vesicularover most of both lungssoft, low pitchedexpiratory sound duration is shorter than inspiratory sound

Abnormal breath sounds

Common types of abnormal breath sounds include the following:
NameContinuous/discontinuousFrequency/pitchInspiratory/expiratoryQualityCommon CausesExample
Wheeze or rhonchicontinuoushigh or lower expiratory or inspiratorywhistling/sibilantCaused by narrowing of airways, such as in asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, foreign body.
Stridorcontinuoushighinspiratory, expiratory, or bothwhistling/sibilantepiglottitis, foreign body, laryngeal edema, croup
Inspiratory gaspcontinuoushighinspiratorywhooppertussis see New England Journal of Medicine, , Supplement to the N Engl J Med 2004; 350:2023-2026
Crackles continuoushigh or low inspiratorycracking/clicking/rattlingpneumonia, pulmonary edema, tuberculosis, bronchitis, heart failure
Pleural friction rubdiscontinuouslowinspiratory and expiratorymany repeated rhythmic soundsinflammation of lung linings, lung tumorsnot available
Hamman's sign discontinuousneither crunching, raspingpneumomediastinum, pneumopericardiumnot available
GruntingContinuouslowexpiratorysnoringsurfactant deficiency, pneumonia, cardiac abnormalities

Continued

  • Rales: Small clicking, bubbling, or rattling sounds in the lungs. They are heard when a person inhales. They are believed to occur when air opens alveoli. Rales can also be described as moist, dry, fine, and coarse.
  • Rhonchi are coarse rattling respiratory sounds, usually caused by secretions in bronchial airways. The sounds resemble snoring. "Rhonchi" is the plural form of the singular word "rhonchus".
  • Stridor: Wheeze-like sound heard when a person breathes. Usually it is due to a blockage of airflow in the windpipe or in the back of the throat.
  • Wheezing: High-pitched sounds produced by narrowed airways. They are most often heard when a person breathes out. Wheezing and other abnormal sounds can sometimes be heard without a stethoscope.

    Other tests of auscultation

, egophony and bronchophony are tests of auscultation that utilize the phenomenon of vocal resonance. Clinicians can utilize these tests during a physical exam to screen for pathological lung disease. For example, in whispered pectoriloquy, the person being examined whispers a two syllable number as the clinician listens over the lung fields. The whisper is not normally heard over the lungs, but if heard may be indicative of pulmonary consolidation in that area. This is because sound travels differently through denser media than the air that should normally be predominant in lung tissue. In egophony, the person being examined continually speaks the English long-sound "E". The lungs are usually air filled, but if there is an abnormal solid component due to infection, fluid, or tumor, the higher frequencies of the "E" sound will be diminished. This changes the sound produced, from a long "E" sound to a long "A" sound.

History

In 1957, Robertson and Coope proposed the two main categories of adventitious lung sounds. Those categories were "Continuous" and "Interrupted". In 1976, the International Lung Sound Association simplified the sub-categories as follows:
Several sources will also refer to "medium" crackles, as a crackling sound that seems to fall between the coarse and fine crackles. Crackles are defined as discrete sounds that last less than 250 ms, while the continuous sounds last approximately 250 ms. Rhonchi are usually caused by a stricture or blockage in the upper airway. These are different from stridor.