sound

[sownd]

1. a slender instrument to be introduced into body passages or cavities, especially for the dilatation of strictures or detection of foreign bodies.

Sound. From Dorland's, 2000.

2. the sensation resulting from stimulation of the ear by vibrations of air or some other elastic medium with a frequency between 20 and 20,000 Hz.

3. a noise, normal or abnormal, heard within the body; see also under bruit, fremitus, murmur, and rale.

adventitious s's abnormal auscultatory sounds heard over the lungs, such as rales, rhonchi, or any of the abnormal types of resonance; they are usually characterized as either continuous or discontinuous sounds. See also breath sounds.

auscultatory s's sounds heard on auscultation, such as heart sounds, breath sounds, adventitious sounds, and Korotkoff sounds.

bowel s's high-pitched abdominal sounds caused by propulsion of the contents of the intestines; see also bowel sounds.

breath s's the sounds of air moving through the tracheobronchial tree, heard during auscultation of the chest. There are four main types: bronchial breath sounds are high-pitched ones heard normally over the manubrium sterni but indicative of consolidation or compression when heard elsewhere; bronchovesicular breath sounds are intermediate between bronchial and vesicular and are normal on certain peripheral parts of the thorax but indicative of partial consolidation if heard over a lung; cavernous breath sounds are abnormal ones with a hollow resonance heard over a cavity in a lung; and vesicular breath sounds are low-pitched ones heard over the normal lung during ventilation. Called also respiratory sounds.

continuous s's adventitious sounds that last longer than 0.2 sec; they include wheezes and rhonchi.

discontinuous s's adventitious sounds that last less than 0.2 sec and come in a series; the most common kind are rales (crackles).

ejection s's high-pitched clicking sounds heard in septal defects just after the first heart sound, attributed to sudden distention of a dilated pulmonary artery or aorta or to forceful opening of the pulmonic or aortic cusps.

friction sound friction rub.

heart s's see heart sounds.

Korotkoff s's sounds heard during auscultatory determination of blood pressure, thought to be produced by vibratory motion of the arterial wall as the artery suddenly distends when compressed by a pneumatic blood pressure cuff. Origin of the sound may be within the blood passing through the vessel or within the wall itself.

percussion sound any sound obtained by percussion.

physiological s's those heard when an external acoustic meatus is plugged, caused by the rush of blood through blood vessels in or near the inner ear and by adjacent muscles in continuous low-frequency vibration.

respiratory s's breath sounds.

succussion s's splashing sounds heard on succussion over a distended stomach or in hydropneumothorax.

to-and-fro sound to-and-fro murmur.

urethral sound a long, slender instrument for exploring and dilating the urethra.

voice s's auscultatory sounds heard over the lungs or airways when the patient speaks; increased resonance indicates consolidation or effusion. Types include bronchophony, egophony, laryngophony, and tracheophony.

white sound that produced by a mixture of all frequencies of mechanical vibration perceptible as sound.

fric·tion sound

the sound heard on auscultation made by the rubbing of two opposed serous surfaces roughened by an inflammatory exudate, or, if chronic, by nonadhesive fibrosis.

Synonym(s): friction murmur, friction rub

fric·tion sound

(frik'shŭn sownd)

The sound, heard on auscultation, made by the rubbing of two opposed serous surfaces roughened by an inflammatory exudate, or, if chronic, by nonadhesive fibrosis.
Synonym(s): friction rub.