When percussion of the lungs elicits this sound, it is indicative of consolidation.
The right lung has three lobes: the superior, middle, and inferior lobes. Each lung lobe can be pictured underneath the chest wall during percussion and auscultation ( Figure 1).
The areas for auscultating the lungs correspond to the lung zones. Auscultation can provide an almost immediate diagnosis for a number of acute pulmonary conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, pneumonia, and pneumothorax. Percussion is a useful skill that is often skipped during everyday clinical practice, but if performed correctly, it can help the physician to identify underlying lung pathology. Learning the proper technique for percussion and auscultation of the respiratory system is vital and comes with practice on real patients. Source: Suneel Dhand, MD, Attending Physician, Internal Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center