Objective: This paper describes state of the art, scientific publications and ongoing research related to the methods of analysis of respiratory sounds.
Methods and material: Review of the current medical and technological literature using Pubmed and personal experience.
Results: The study includes a description of the various techniques that are being used to collect auscultation sounds, a physical description of known pathologic sounds for which automatic detection tools were developed. Modern tools are based on artificial intelligence and on technics such as artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems, and genetic algorithms…
Conclusion: The next step will consist in finding new markers so as to increase the efficiency of decision aid algorithms and tools.
Keywords: artificial neural networks; auscultation; crackles; fuzzy rule base identification system; genetic algorithm; multilayer perceptron; respiratory phase classification; respiratory phase detection; respiratory sounds; signal processing; spectral analysis; state of the art; wavelet; wheezes.