Auscultate Heart and Lungs

Learn to auscultate on this website with our training & quizzes. Our lessons feature an interactive, multimedia approach combining text, audio recordings, waveforms and anatomical animations. In addition, a heart & lung sounds guide provides a quick way to listen to specific sounds. The remainder of this page introduces auscultation and summarizes the major sections of the website.

Auscultation Defined

First things first; what does it mean? Auscultate is the process of listening to body sounds, usually with a stethoscope. Most commonly, physicians and nurses auscultate the heart and lungs. Abdominal sounds, fetal sounds and carotid bruit can also be auscultated.

Heart Murmurs and Sounds

Heart murmurs often associated with heart valve abnormalities. Other heart sounds can indicate congenital heart problems, myocarditis or pericardial friction rub. Listed below are our short courses on heart sounds. Each course can be taken in 15-20 minutes.

First Heart Sounds
Second Heart Sounds
Extra Heart Sounds
Systolic Murmurs
Diastolic Murmurs
Complex Conditions
Congenital Abnormalities
Cardiac Conditions Associated With Sudden Death
Auscultation in Primary Care
Heart & Lung Sounds Reference Guide

Heart Sounds - Extended

To auscultate carotid artery bruit or pulmonary arterial hypertension requires additional techniques and knowledge. Additional lessons, cases and quizzes for these topics are available from a cooperative website (PracticalClinicalSkills.com):
Abdominal Sounds
Carotid Bruit

Lung Sounds - Breath Sounds

Lung sounds are auscultated for sounds such as wheezes, rhonchi and crackles (rales). Some physicians auscultate voiced sounds, which can indicate specific areas of the lungs which are consolidated. Our auscultation guide provides quick access to normal, voiced and adventitious lung sounds with audio recordings, listening tips and a waveforms. The two lung sounds courses cover basic and intermediate levels of adventitious lung sounds and voiced sounds.

Basics of Lung Sounds
Intermediate Lung Sounds
Lung Sounds/Breath Sounds Reference Guide

Respiratory Care

As an extension of our lung sounds courses, we can recommend a series of interactive case studies in respiratory care, titled "Pulmonary Problem Solving". These cases are presented by PracticalClinicalSkills.com:

Respiratory Care - Pulmonary Problem Solving.