Egophony is an increased resonance of voice sounds heard when auscultating

Auscultation

Auscultation is the term for listening to the internal sounds of the body, usually using a stethoscope...

 the lungs, often caused by lung consolidation and fibrosis

Fibrosis

Fibrosis is the formation of excess fibrous connective tissue in an organ or tissue in a reparative or reactive process. This is as opposed to formation of fibrous tissue as a normal constituent of an organ or tissue...

. It is due to enhanced transmission of high-frequency noise across fluid, such as in abnormal lung tissue, with lower frequencies filtered out. It results in a high-pitched nasal or bleating quality in the affected person's voice.

Technique

While listening to the lungs with a stethoscope, the patient is asked to say the letter "e." What is heard is a higher pitched sound that sounds like the letter "a." Some doctors refer to this as "e to a transition." Most commonly, this indicates pneumonia.

In the UK it is conventional on respiratory examination to auscultate the chest while asking the patient to repeat the word "ninety-nine". There is, however, regional variation with medical students and doctors from Edinburgh and Glasgow often preferring the phrase "one-one-one" due to its more rounded sound.

Related techniques

Similar terms are bronchophony

Bronchophony

Bronchophony, also known as bronchiloquy, is the abnormal transmission of sounds from the lungs or bronchi. Bronchophony is a type of pectoriloquy.It is a general medical sign detected by auscultation.-Technique:...

 and whispered pectoriloquy

Whispered pectoriloquy

Whispered pectoriloquy refers to an increased loudness of whispering noted during auscultation with a stethoscope on the lung fields on a patient's back.Usually sounds of this volume would not be heard when whispered...

. The mechanism is the same: fluid or consolidation causes the sound of the voice to be transmitted loudly to the periphery of the lungs where it is usually not heard.

Causes

• Above the level of pleural effusion
  Pleural effusion
  Pleural effusion is excess fluid that accumulates between the two pleural layers, the fluid-filled space that surrounds the lungs. Excessive amounts of such fluid can impair breathing by limiting the expansion of the lungs during ventilation.-Pathophysiology:...
  
  
• Pneumonia
  Pneumonia
  Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
  
   (lung consolidation)
• Fibrosis
  Fibrosis
  Fibrosis is the formation of excess fibrous connective tissue in an organ or tissue in a reparative or reactive process. This is as opposed to formation of fibrous tissue as a normal constituent of an organ or tissue...
  
  

Etymology

Egophony comes from the Greek word for "goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

," (αἴξ aix, aig-) in reference to the bleating quality of the sound.

External links

• Abnormal Respiratory Vocal Sounds