Learn about the S3 heart sound, listen to examples, take short lessons and compare to other heart sounds. For all medical professionals.
Our S3 and S4 heart sound lessons can be found in this course.. Secondly, our reference index is designed to provide quick access to stridor sounds, with audio tracks, listening guides and waveforms. Use this link for quick reference to heart and lung sounds.
The third heart sound is a short, low frequency sound heard best with the stethoscope's bell. It occurs early in diastole and is dull in quality. As an extra heart sound, it creates a galloping rhythm with a cadence like word 'Kentucky'.
Here we offer a comparison of S3 vs S4 heart sounds.
Listen for a short, low frequency sound early in diastole. Try to match the cadence to 'Kentucky'.
Listen for a cadence like the word 'Tennessee' where the syllable 'Ten' is S4. S4 is usually short and low frequency.
While we have many breath sound lessons and quick references on this website. Please use the links below.
Basics of Lung Sounds
The goal of this basic course in lung sounds is to improve auscultation observational skills. We focus on describing important breath sounds and in providing recordings of each. Many students find that waveform tracings aid in learning lung sounds; we have included dynamic (moving cursor) waveforms with each lesson. The anatomy pages use illustrations to reveal an example of each lung sound (anatomy not yet available on smartphones). |
1 | Vesicular - Normal |
2 | Crackles - Fine (Rales) |
3 | Crackles - Coarse (Rales) |
4 | Wheeze |
5 | Rhonchi - Low Pitched Wheezes |
6 | Bronchial |
7 | Pleural Rubs |
8 | Bronchovesicular |
Intermediate Lung Sounds
The goal of this intermediate course is to expand your observational skills when auscultating breath sounds. The course lessons include voiced sounds: bronchophony, egophony and whispered pectoriloquy. We also provide auscultation lessons on several types of wheezes, crackles and stridor. Each of these lung sound lessons includes audio, text and dynamic waveform. The anatomy pages use illustrations to reveal an example of each lung sound (anatomy not yet available on smartphones). |
1 | Vesicular - Diminished |
2 | Bronchophony - Healthy |
3 | Bronchophony - Abnormal |
4 | Egophony - e |
5 | Egophony - a |
6 | Whispered Pectoriloquy - Healthy |
7 | Whispered Pectoriloquy - Abnormal |
8 | Wheeze - Expiratory |
9 | Wheeze - Monophonic |
10 | Wheeze - Polyphonic |
11 | Crackles - Early Inspiratory (Rales) |
12 | Crackles - Late Inspiratory (Rales) |
13 | Stridor |