Stethoscope

Specs

Internal human body sounds

Heart, lungs, abdomen & vessels

Two different stethoscopes

30+ minutes of audio

32 mono recordings

96 kHz / 24 bit WAV files

Descriptive filenames

Embedded Soundminer metadata

470 MB Zip / Fast download

Description

The Stethoscope sound collection focuses on the various sounds happening inside the human body: The gurgling and murmuring of various digestion processes in the abdomen, the beating heart, blood rushing through vessels and the respiratory sounds of the lungs. All sounds were recorded from male and female volunteers using multiple stethoscopes and a Sound Devices 633 recorder, final clean up was done with Izotope RX 4.

Sound Examples

On Body Sounds

The human body produces a symphony of subtle, often unnoticed sounds as it goes about its vital functions. The gurgling of the stomach, for example, is caused by the movement of food, fluids, and gases through the digestive tract. These sounds, known as borborygmi, occur when the muscles in the stomach and intestines contract, pushing contents through the digestive system, creating a range of low-pitched, bubbling, or rumbling noises.

Blood flowing through veins and arteries is usually silent to the human ear, but under certain conditions, such as during intense exercise or using a stethoscope, we can detect it. The sound is a soft, rhythmic whooshing or pulsing, caused by the movement of blood being pushed through vessels by the heart’s contractions. The heart itself produces two distinct sounds during each beat, often described as “lub-dub.” The first sound (lub) is created when the heart’s atrioventricular valves close, and the second sound (dub) occurs when the semilunar valves close, marking the end of one heartbeat and the beginning of the next.

The lungs, responsible for breathing, can sometimes produce wheezing or crackling sounds, especially during illness or when airflow is obstructed. Wheezing is a high-pitched whistling noise made when air moves through narrowed or inflamed airways, while crackles, often heard in conditions like pneumonia, resemble popping or bubbling sounds caused by the opening of small airways or fluid in the lungs.

These sounds of the human body, from the gentle rhythm of the heart to the occasional gurgle of the stomach, are the audible evidence of the constant, dynamic processes that keep us alive.