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Table 3-2

Table 3-2Adventitious Breath Sounds
Type and CharacteristicsIllustration
Wheeze (Sibilant)
  • Musical or squeaking
  • High-pitched, continuous sounds
  • Auscultated during inspiration and expiration
  • Air passing through narrowed airways

Rhonchi (Sonorous Wheeze)
  • Sonorous or coarse; snoring quality
  • Low-pitched, continuous sounds
  • Auscultated during inspiration and expiration
  • Coughing may somewhat clear the sound
  • Air passing through or around secretions

Crackles
  • Bubbling, crackling, popping
  • Low- to high-pitched, discontinuous sounds
  • Auscultated during inspiration and expiration
  • Opening of deflated small airways and alveoli; air passing through fluid in the airways

Stridor
  • Harsh, loud, high-pitched
  • Auscultated on inspiration
  • Narrowing of upper airway (larynx or trachea); presence of foreign body in airway

Friction Rub
  • Rubbing or grating
  • Loudest over lower lateral anterior surface
  • Auscultated during inspiration and expiration
  • Inflamed pleura rubbing against chest wall