Respiratory Sounds AtlasListen · Recognise · Interpret
Lessons

Course outline

Seven modules, 26 short lessons. The lessons follow the journey of a sound: where it starts, how it reaches the chest wall, how to listen to it and what it means. Each lesson starts with a question, answers it step by step and ends with a short summary.

How does a sound arise? Three rules
  1. No flow, no sound.
  2. Solid lung carries sound; a layer in between blocks it.
  3. Narrowing makes music, opening makes a crackle, friction makes a creak.
How do you describe a sound? Four questions
  1. When?
  2. What does it sound like?
  3. Where?
  4. What changes it?
Why has the sound changed? Three questions
  1. Has the source changed?
  2. Has the flow changed?
  3. Has the path changed?
0 / 26 lessons completed
1

Foundations

What is sound, where does it start and how does it reach the chest wall?

  1. Respiratory sounds in 5 minutes5 min
  2. Three measures of sound: intensity, frequency, duration11 min
  3. Where does sound come from?9 min
  4. How does sound reach the chest wall?10 min
2

Normal breath sounds

What does a healthy lung sound like, and how much can normal vary?

  1. The four normal breath sounds8 min
  2. The limits of normal7 min
3

Adventitious sounds

How do adventitious sounds arise, and how do you tell them apart by ear?

  1. Classification and terms8 min
  2. How do adventitious sounds arise?12 min
  3. Telling continuous sounds apart9 min
  4. Describing crackles9 min
  5. Squawks and pleural friction rubs7 min
4

Examination

How do you listen properly, avoid pitfalls and record what you find?

  1. Auscultation technique8 min
  2. Voice transmission tests and percussion9 min
  3. Pitfalls and artefacts9 min
  4. A good examination note8 min
5

Clinical interpretation

Which disease does the sound you hear suggest?

  1. From sound to differential diagnosis10 min
  2. Asthma, COPD and local obstruction8 min
  3. Linking crackles to disease9 min
  4. When breath sounds disappear8 min
6

Special situations

What is different in the upper airway, in children, in intensive care and in cough?

  1. Upper airway, stridor and snoring9 min
  2. Breath sounds in children9 min
  3. Auscultation in intensive care9 min
  4. What does the sound of a cough tell you?8 min
7

Digital auscultation

What can a sound recording and a spectrogram show, and what can they not show?

  1. Digital stethoscopes and recording8 min
  2. How do you read a spectrogram?8 min
  3. The place of digital auscultation7 min