Doctors check your stomach with a stethoscope, a process called auscultation, to listen to your bowel sounds (gurgling noises from intestines) and blood flow, assessing how well your digestive system is working and detecting issues like blockages, inflammation, or abnormal blood flow that normal sounds or unusual sounds (bruits) might indicate. It helps diagnose problems like constipation, infections, or obstructions by evaluating the frequency and character of these internal sounds, say Mayo Clinic, NIH, and Cleveland Clinic.
Auscultation of the abdomen is performed for detection of altered bowel sounds, rubs, or vascular bruits. Normal peristalsis creates bowel sounds that may be altered or absent by disease. Irritation of serosal surfaces may produce a sound (rub) as an organ moves against the serosal surface.
If you have noticed a significant increase in the frequency and intensity of your abdominal sounds, you may have a hyperactive bowel. Commonly, this indicates that your bowel function is overactive due to increased muscular contractions of the small and large intestine.
If the person's abdomen is swollen because the intestines are distended with gas, the tapping makes a hollow sound.
For over 200 years, the stethoscope has been a crucial tool in diagnosing heart conditions. It allows doctors to listen to the internal sounds of the body, especially the heart and lungs, making it invaluable for detecting heart valve disease.
The bell picks up low-frequency sounds, while the diaphragm picks up sounds of a higher frequency. The stethoscope came to be commonly used for detecting heart and lung problems — like the whoosh of a heart valve that is not closing properly or the crackling sound of pneumonia.
Abdominal auscultation
Your provider may put a positioner under your knees for comfort. Your provider will place a stethoscope on your abdomen. They'll move the stethoscope over different regions of your abdomen to listen to the sounds your bowels make.
Signs and Symptoms of Stomach Cancer
Normally, the abdominal cavity contains only a small amount of fluid if any. In certain conditions, large amounts of fluid can build up in this space. An abdominal tap can help diagnose the cause of fluid buildup or the presence of an infection.
Early signs of gastroparesis include nausea, vomiting undigested food, feeling full quickly (early satiety) or full for a long time, bloating, abdominal pain, heartburn, and poor appetite, often leading to weight loss, though symptoms vary and can be mild. These symptoms signal delayed stomach emptying, making it hard to eat normally, and can also cause blood sugar fluctuations.
Increased intestinal gurgling, rumbling or other sounds. Mucus-covered stool. Diarrhea, constipation, or switching between the two. Changes in bowel habits, including increased or decreased frequency and urgency, straining, and feelings of incomplete bowel movements.
Although there is much variation from person to person, in most cases of loud noises from a hyperactive stomach are normal. However, your healthcare provider should be made aware of these sounds if you are also experiencing diarrhea, pain or other symptoms.
Early in the obstruction, bowel sounds may be hyperactive or high-pitched as the body attempts to overcome the blockage. However, in more severe cases, bowel sounds may become absent, mainly if strangulation or ischemia is present.
Start with the diaphragm of your stethoscope and begin in the lower right quadrant, moving in a clockwise fashion, listening for bowel sounds, which sound like high-pitched clicks and gurgles. It's normal to hear bowel sounds in each quadrant at a frequency of 5 to 35 sounds per minute.
You should worry about stomach noises (borborygmi) when they come with severe symptoms like intense abdominal pain, persistent diarrhea or vomiting, fever, inability to pass gas, black/bloody stools, unexplained weight loss, or extreme fatigue, as this can signal a bowel obstruction, infection, or food intolerance; otherwise, gurgling is normal digestion, often just hunger or swallowed air.
Pressing on your stomach is a way to find out if the size of your internal organs is normal, to check if anything hurts, and to feel if anything unusual is going on. Looking, listening, and feeling are all part of a physical exam.
Frequent discomfort, gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and heartburn could be signs that your gut is having a hard time processing food and eliminating waste. You feel tired more often than not. People with chronic fatigue may have imbalances in the gut.
During an endoscopy procedure
Most people only have mild discomfort, similar to indigestion or a sore throat. The procedure is usually done while you're awake.
Why Do Doctors Auscultate the Abdomen? Your doctor may also use the stethoscope to listen for sounds that your intestines make. These sounds can show problems including: Constipation or slow movement of waste through the intestines.
What are the most common gastrointestinal diseases?
Causes might include: Gas from functional indigestion, food intolerances or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Constipation causing a build-up of feces and back-up of digestive contents. Urinary retention causing a build-up of urine.
A lump between the rib cage above the stomach is often due to a condition called an epigastric hernia4. The epigastrium is the part of your abdominal cavity that is just below the rib cage. In this condition, a lump may be visible just below the sternum or breastbone or above the belly button.
He or she will also do a physical exam to assess your situation. The doctor may suspect intestinal obstruction if your abdomen is swollen or tender or if there's a lump in your abdomen. He or she may listen for bowel sounds with a stethoscope.
Normal findings might be documented as: “Normoactive bowel sounds heard in all four quadrants. High-pitched, gurgling sounds.” Abnormal findings might be documented as: “Hypoactive bowels sounds in all four quadrants.”
Using a stethoscope, the health care provider may hear normal breathing sounds, decreased or absent breath sounds, and abnormal breath sounds. Absent or decreased sounds can mean: Air or fluid in or around the lungs (such as pneumonia, heart failure, and pleural effusion)