Breath Sounds

Question 1

Crackles or rales

Answer 1

Result from opening and closing of small airways
that had closed due to the surface forces within them. They sound like** hairs or cellophane being rubbed together**.

Usually, the higher the pitch the more peripheral the
lesion

(Fine vs Coarse )

Question 2

Ronchi

Answer 2

gurgling, rumbling, rattling, or as
a snoring sound

Low pitched sounds produced by liquid secretionsthe** large airways or bronchi** causing narrowing

Question 3

Wheezes

Answer 3

Continuous** muscial **sounds occuirng during rapid airflow when bronchial airways are narrowed (almost to point of closure)

Question 4

Stridor

Answer 4

**Loud high-pitched whistle or shriek (like barking
seals) **which is an indicator of upper or extrathoracic airway
narrowing or obstruction

Wheezes or ronchi are absent or minimal over the
neck whereas stridor is heard best at the neck

If heard on expiration - foreign object occlusion

Stridor
is a medical emergency which always requires intervention

Question 5

Rubs

Answer 5

due to an** inflamed visceral and parietal pleura** rubbing
against each other; may sound creaky or like course sandpaper
rubbing against itself. It has an inspiratory and expiratory
component. It always means pleural inflammation
adjacent to the area of the finding

Question 6

Amorphic

Answer 6

Produced by a large empty superficial cavity
communicating with a bronchus

Question 7

Mediastinal crunch (Hamman sign)

Answer 7

precordial crackles
synchronous with the heartbeat due to entry of air into the
mediastinum
Adventitious or Added Breath Sounds