An assessment of the terminology used by diplomates and students to describe the character of equine mitral and aortic valve regurgitant murmurs: correlations with the physical properties of the sounds.

The research article analyzes the terminology used by students and professionals (diplomates) to describe the character of mitral and aortic regurgitant murmurs in horses. The study suggested that only four terms (blowing, honking, buzzing, and musical) were repeatable, consistently used, and associated with certain recordings of cardiac murmurs.

Methodology

• The research study involved 20 students and 16 diplomates who were required to listen to 7 recordings of heart murmurs in horses. These murmurs either originated from the aortic valve (n = 3) or the mitral valve (n = 4).
• The participants were not restricted in how they could describe the murmurs and as such, a total of 30 different terms were used by the respondents to describe the character of these murmurs.

Results

• Despite the wide range of terminology used, only 4 terms were used consistently and in a repeatable manner. These were blowing, honking, buzzing, and musical.
• The majority of participants used 1 or 2 terms to describe each murmur. Diplomates used fewer terms than students on average, drawing from a pool of around 8 terms compared to the student’s 13.
• Correlations were found between specific terms and the recordings. ‘Blowing’ was commonly used for murmurs without harmonics (indicative of a noisy sound, as per older descriptions), while ‘honking’, ‘musical’, and ‘buzzing’ were often associated with murmurs that contained harmonics. Harmonics refer to the complex frequencies produced by murmurs, which contain a fundamental frequency and additional overtones.
• Statistically significant differences were found in the dominant frequency and duration of sounds associated with the different terms. For instance, buzzing and honking murmurs had markedly lower frequencies than musical murmurs, and honking murmurs were found to be shorter in duration than the buzzing or musical equivalents.

Conclusion

• The results suggest that, for effective and uniform communication, the terminology for describing murmurs should be restricted to the four terms confirmed by the study: blowing, honking, buzzing, and musical.
• The authors propose that teaching this terminology alongside reference sounds would help ensure consistent understanding and use, greatly enhancing effective communication within the field.