Public Safety Training Center

Monroe Community College
Rochester, New York


The Split first Heart Sound


Examine the illustration and play the WAV file multiple times. It is more important to learn the cadence (pattern / timing) than the quality of the sounds at this point.

press here for the SOUND WAV. Replay by using button on your popup device

Remember and review the cardiac events as you listen. S1 is created when the ventricles contract and close the mitral and tricuspid. The left ventricle is capable of generating higher pressures more quickly and the mitral valve will close slightly before the tricuspid. Normally the two sounds slightly overlap and create one sound - S1. In some patients mild splitting can be heard normally, If the splitting of S1 is great, as it is in this example, it is usually due to disease.

Once you have the split S1 mastered, go on to the next case.


Return to Heart Sounds

Return to Paramedic Home Page

URL: http://www.monroecc.edu/depts/pstc/parasss1.htm

Updated: September 23, 1997