Respiratory sounds

Respiratory sounds

ICD-10	R06
ICD-9	786.7
MeSH	D012135

Respiratory sounds (or breath sounds) refer to the specific sounds identified through auscultation of the respiratory system with a stethoscope.

In this context, "adventitious sounds" refers to sounds heard apart from the normal sounds of inspiration and expiration.

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

External links

• R.A.L.E. Repository - sound files of breath sounds
• MEDiscuss - Respiratory auscultation with audio examples
• Wilkins R, Dexter J, Smith J (1984). "Survey of adventitious lung sound terminology in case reports". Chest 85 (4): 523–5. doi:10.1378/chest.85.4.523. PMID 6705583. 
• Lehrer, Steven. Understanding Lung Sounds. Elsevier 2002.