Definition of "auscultation" []

• The act of listening. (noun)
• Medicine The act of listening for sounds made by internal organs, as the heart and lungs, to aid in the diagnosis of certain disorders. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Rales, rhonchi and decreased breath sounds may be present by auscultation."
• "For instance, it mandates that the pregnant woman must "view the fetal ultrasound imaging and hear the auscultation of the fetal heart tone if the fetal heart tone is audible" unless she certifies in writing prior to the abortion that she does not wish to do this."
• "Because so much of diagnosis now depends on lab tests and imaging, the physical exam, including the time-honored rituals of auscultation (listening with a stethoscope) and palpation (touching parts of the body), has become less important; but skipping it short-circuits an essential part of the healing encounter, the “laying on of hands.”"