From the Research
The general term for abnormal breath sounds during auscultation is adventitious breath sounds. These are additional or unexpected sounds heard during breathing examination that are not part of normal respiratory sounds. Adventitious breath sounds include:
- crackles (also called rales), which can be fine or coarse and typically indicate fluid in the airways or alveoli
- wheezes, which are musical sounds caused by narrowed airways
- rhonchi, which are low-pitched continuous sounds suggesting secretions in larger airways
- stridor, a high-pitched sound indicating upper airway obstruction
- pleural friction rubs, which sound like leather rubbing together and indicate pleural inflammation. These abnormal sounds help clinicians diagnose various respiratory conditions such as pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, pulmonary edema, or pleural disease 1. When auscultating the chest, it's essential to listen systematically to all lung fields during both inspiration and expiration to properly identify and characterize these sounds, as their location, timing, and quality provide valuable diagnostic information about underlying respiratory pathology. The mode of breathing can impact both adventitious and normal lung sounds, but spontaneous breathing is not inferior to standardized breathing in reflecting lung disease 1. Understanding the nature and extent of the spirometric overlap between asthma and COPD is critical for tailoring a therapeutic strategy that is based on factors that include medical and family history, signs and symptoms, and a clear interpretation of spirometry data 2. Computer-aided analysis of lung sounds associated with pulmonary Tuberculosis (TB) has produced a diagnostic accuracy of 73%, demonstrating the potential of computer-aided auscultation as an aid for the diagnosis and treatment of TB 3. However, the most recent and highest quality study on this topic is 1, which provides the most relevant information for clinical practice.