Williams's Tracheal Tone
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
Williams's tracheal tone is a tympanitic percussion sound sometimes detected over lung tissue that is condensed or compressed by pleural effusion. Due to increased sound conductivity, the percussion sound resonates within the trachea, changing with an open or closed mouth similarly to Wintrich's phenomenon.
Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)
WILLIAMS'S TRACHEAL TONE (Williams), a tympanitic percussion sound which is sometimes discovered during percussion above and below the clavicle over lung tissue that is condensed or compressed by a pleuritic exudate; under such conditions, the latter is more sound-conductive, thereby creating the possibility of resonance of the percussion sound in the trachea. With the mouth open and closed, Williams's tracheal tone changes in the same way as is observed in Wintrich's change of sound (see Wintrich's change of sound).
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Cite this page
“Williams's Tracheal Tone.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/williamss-tracheal-tone/