Vesicular sounds are soft, blowing, or rustling sounds normally heard throughout most of the lung fields. Vesicular sounds are normally heard throughout inspiration, continue without pause through expiration, and then fade away about one third of the way through expiration.
The three normal/healthy lung sounds include bronchial, bronchovesicular, and vesicular lung sounds. These sounds are heard on auscultation of various regions of the respiratory tract and indicate the healthy and functional passing of air through the lungs and trachea.
Rhonchi. These low-pitched wheezing sounds sound like snoring and usually happen when you breathe out. They can be a sign that your bronchial tubes (the tubes that connect your trachea to your lungs) are thickening because of mucus. Rhonchi sounds can be a sign of bronchitis or COPD.
Normal lung sounds occur in all parts of the chest area, including above the collarbones and at the bottom of the rib cage. Using a stethoscope, the health care provider may hear normal breathing sounds, decreased or absent breath sounds, and abnormal breath sounds.
Breath sounds are classified into normal tracheal sound, normal lung sound or vesicular breath sounds, and bronchial breath sound.
Physical exam. Your doctor will listen to your lungs with a stethoscope. If you have pneumonia, your lungs may make crackling, bubbling, and rumbling sounds when you inhale.
Absent or decreased sounds can mean: Air or fluid in or around the lungs (such as pneumonia, heart failure, and pleural effusion) Increased thickness of the chest wall.
Noisy breathing is typically caused by a partial blockage or narrowing at some point in the airways (respiratory tract).
For example, crackles that occur late in the inspiratory phase (when a person inhales) may indicate heart failure or pneumonia. A doctor may also ask for: chest X-rays. a sputum sample to test for infection.
How do you know your lungs are healthy? If your breathing is natural, comes easily and not forced, is steady and makes you feel good, or is so regular you do not notice it at all, your lungs are most likely healthy.
According to one 2021 study, crackling sounds are common in COPD. There are two distinct types of crackling sounds detectable in the lungs: coarse and fine. Coarse crackles are more typical of COPD and present as prolonged, low pitched sounds. Fine crackles are more high pitched.
Typically wheezing is found in asthma and emphysema. Patients who wheeze can be so loud you can hear it standing next to them. Crackles, on the other hand, are only heard by a stethoscope and are a sign of too much fluid in the lung. Pulmonary edema is a common example, often a byproduct of heart failure.
Wheezing while lying down is a common symptom of conditions such as asthma. It can also be the result of anxiety at night, GERD, or obesity. Some people may have a combination of several conditions. For example, those with GERD and asthma may find that acid reflux triggers their asthma symptoms when lying down.
The Symptoms of Popcorn Lung
Short of breath. Crackles (“sounds like Velcro or Rice Crispies”) detected with a stethoscope. Cough that doesn't go away. Oxygen levels that nosedive when walking.
Heart Failure
Crackles will be detected higher in the chest with worsening severity of HF. Crackles may be absent in patients with chronic HF even in the setting of elevated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure. Also, crackles may be difficult to hear in patients with emphysema or other coexisting pulmonary diseases.
Coughing or deep inspiration may change the quality of coarse crackles, such as those associated with underlying alveolar or airway disease, but the crackles rarely disappear entirely. Expiratory crackles are much less frequent than inspiratory crackles and are often seen in obstructive lung disease.
Crackles are often associated with inflammation or infection of the small bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli. Crackles that do not clear after a cough may indicate pulmonary edema or fluid in the alveoli due to heart failure, pulmonary fibrosis, or acute respiratory distress syndrome.
The chances of experiencing asthma symptoms are higher during sleep. Nocturnal wheezing, cough, and trouble breathing are common yet potentially dangerous. Many doctors often underestimate nocturnal asthma or nighttime asthma. Studies show that most deaths related to asthma symptoms such as wheezing happen at night.
The condition also causes some distinct sounds ranging from wheezing to cracking when you breathe, which isn't surprising since COPD is an umbrella term for a group of lung diseases (including chronic bronchitis and emphysema) that obstruct the lung's airways and make breathing difficult.
Some patients report noisy, difficult breathing (wheezy dyspnea), whereas others describe a whistling type of breathing or rattling secretions in the throat. The majority of asthmatic patients who report active wheezing generally have this finding documented by the examining physician.
Crackles. These may be either coarse or fine. They are discontinuous, interrupted explosive sounds. Coarse crackles or crepitations are associated with bronchiectasis or resolving pneumonia, whereas fine crackles can be heard with either pulmonary oedema or interstitial fibrosis.