Basic Assessment of Lung Sounds

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Basic Assessment of Lung Sounds

• Georgia Regional Hospital at
• Atlanta

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Normal Lung Sound

• A healthy individual breathing through their
  mouth at normal tidal volumes produces a soft
  inspiratory sound as air rushes into the lungs,
  with little noise produced on expiration.
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Wheezes Lung Sound

• Whistling-type noises produced during
  expiration (sometime inspiration) when air is
  forced through airways narrowed by
  bronchoconstriction, secretions and/or associated
  mucosal edema. As this most commonly occurs in
  association with diffuse processes that affect
  all lobes of the lung (e.g. asthma and emphysema)
  it is frequently audible in all fields.

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• Wheezes Lung Sound
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Rales/Crackles Lung Sound

• Scratchy sounds that occur in association with
  processes that causes fluid to accumulate within
  the alveolar and interstitial spaces. The sound
  is similar to that produced by rubbing strands of
  hair together closer to your ear. Pulmonary edema
  is probably the most common cause, at least in
  the adult population, and results in symmetric
  findings.

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• Rales/Crackles Lung Sound
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Dense Consolidation Lung Sound

• Can occur with pneumonia, results in the
  transmission of large airway noises (i.e. those
  normally heard on auscultation over the trachea,
  known as tubular or bronchial breath sounds) to
  periphery. Its very similar to the noise
  produced when breathing through a snorkel.

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• Dense Consolidation Lung Sound
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