Final answer:
Above the manubrium, over the trachea, one can hear loud, harsh, and high-pitched sounds due to the pronounced airflow through this large airway. Loudness is related to the intensity level or decibel, while pitch is determined by the frequency of the sound.
Step-by-step explanation:
You can hear loud sounds above the manubrium, over the trachea. These sounds are typically harsh and high-pitched. When auscultating this area, these characteristics are present because the trachea is a large airway, and the sound of airflow through it is usually more pronounced than through smaller airways. When a person inhales or exhales, the air rushing in and out makes a noise that is louder and has a higher frequency than what is heard over the lung fields or other areas of the chest. For example, the properties of a loud, shrill whistle would be described as having a high amplitude and high frequency. In the context of sound produced by the trachea over the manubrium, the increased speed of air creates the high-pitched sound. Furthermore, the sound heard when a source of sound is moving towards you tends to become more high-pitched as the speed of the source increases, a phenomenon known as the Doppler effect. The intensity level or decibel (dB) is often used to describe the loudness of sound, while frequency dictates pitch. It's worth noting that higher frequency sounds can sometimes be perceived as louder because they have more energy and can be more easily heard over other frequencies.