Hamman's sign

{{short description|Abnormal crunching sound heard from the chest area}}

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Hamman's sign (rarely, Hammond's sign{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eq7xVgSHqhMC |title=The Pericardium - Google Book Search |access-date=2008-11-26|isbn=9781402076398 |last1=Shabetai |first1=Ralph |date=2003-10-31 |publisher=Springer }} or Hammond's crunch{{cite journal |vauthors=Hadjis T, Palisaitis D, Dontigny L, Allard M |title=Benign pneumopericardium and tamponade |journal=Can J Cardiol |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=232–4 |date=March 1995 |pmid=7889442 }}) is a medical sign consisting of a crunching, rasping sound, synchronous with the heartbeat,{{DorlandsDict|seven/000097050|Hamman sign}} heard over the precordium in spontaneous mediastinal emphysema. It is thought to result from the heart beating against air-filled tissues.

It is named after Johns Hopkins clinician Louis Hamman, M.D.{{WhoNamedIt|synd|3001}}

This sound is heard best over the left lateral position.{{cite book|last1=McCann]|first1=[executive publisher, Judith A. Shilling|title=Nursing.|date=2008|publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins|location=Ambler, PA|isbn=9781582556680|page=171}} It has been described as a series of precordial crackles that correlate with the heart beat rather than respiration.