Heart Sounds Lessons
Our module,
Essential Heart Sounds is an excellent way to learn commonly observed heart sounds.
For many additional lessons, we recommend the website
EasyAuscultation.com.
Essential Heart Sounds
This module, 'Essential Heart Sounds', is designed to provide auscultation instruction with practice exercises. The most important heart sounds found in family practice and internal medicine are covered. Each lesson consists of multiple pages: 1) text description with audio recording; 2)a visualization page with waveform; 3) animation of the heart valves and 4) a practice page. Use the tabs which appear below each lesson's title.
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Lesson List
Heart Murmur Timing
When listening to heart murmur sounds, note the timing within a cardiac cycle. Systolic murmurs are heard between S1 (first heart sound) and S2 (second heart sound). Diastolic murmurs occur between S2 and S1. Murmurs can occur within systole or diastole and terms such as early systolic, mid-systolic or late systolic are used in our lessons.
Heart Murmur Length
A heart murmur's length (duration) to the how much of systole or diastole that the murmur occupies.
Pansystolic or holosystolic murmurs last for the entire systole interval.
Murmur Pitch
Listening to the pitch of a heart murmur should be made, noting the the pitch (frequency) as low, medium or high. The stethoscope's bell is useful for low pitched sounds.
The stethoscope's diaphragm mode is used for medium or high pitched sounds.
Heart Murmur Shape
Murmurs can vary in sound volume during one heart beat.
Murmurs that increase in volume intensity are called crescendo murmurs while those murmurs with decreasing sound levels are called decrescendo murmurs.
Crescendo-decrescendo murmurs, also called diamond-shaped, have sound levels that increase then immediatly decrease in intensity.
These murmurs can also be called diamond shaped.
Rectangular heart murmurs are of sound intensity.