Stridor usually indicates the partial obstruction of the larger airways, such as the trachea or a main bronchus, and requires immediate attention. Stridor may be a sign of a life-threatening condition and should be treated as an emergency situation. Stridor is a continuous, high-pitched crowing sound heard predominantly on inspiration, over the upper airway. This lung sound is often a sign of adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), early congestive heart failure, asthma or pulmonary oedema. Coarse CracklesĬoarse crackles are lower-pitched and moist-sounding, like pouring water out of a bottle or ripping open velcro. The sound quality of fine crackles is similar to the sound of hair rubbed between your fingers near the ear and may be heard in congestive heart failure and pulmonary fibrosis. They are commonly heard in the bases of the lung lobes during inspiration.Ĭrackles can be further categorised as coarse or fine: 1. The cause of crackles can be from air passing through fluid, pus or mucous. The sound crackles create are fine, short, high-pitched, intermittently crackling sounds. Crackles (Rales)Ĭrackles, also known as alveolar rales, are the sounds heard in a lung field that has fluid in the small airways. Sibilant wheezes are caused by asthma, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). These are the typical wheezes heard when listening to an asthmatic patient. Sibilant wheezes differ from sonorous wheezes as they are a higher-pitched, shrill, continuous whistling sound that occurs when the airway becomes obstructed and narrowed. Sibilant Wheezes (Wheezes)įormerly referred to as simply ‘ wheezes’, sibilant wheezes are very closely related to the sonorous wheeze. Pneumonia, chronic bronchitis and cystic fibrosis are patient populations that commonly present with rhonchi.Ĭoughing can sometimes temporarily clear this breath sound and alter its quality. Sonorous wheezes are caused by blockages to the main airways by mucous secretions, lesions or foreign bodies. Sonorous wheezes are named thusly because they have a snoring, gurgling quality to them, or are similar to a low-pitched moan, more prominent on exhalation. What was once called ‘ rhonchi’ are now mostly referred to as sonorous wheezes (though the terms are still used interchangeably).
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