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Title: Avalanche Dynamics of Crackle Sound in the Lung

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters

We analyze a sequence of short transient sound waves, called 'crackles,' which are associated with explosive openings of airways during lung inflation. The distribution of time intervals between consecutive crackles {Delta}t shows two regimes of power law behavior. We develop an avalanche model which fits the data over five decades of {Delta}t. We find that the regime for large {Delta}t is related to the dynamics of distinct avalanches in a Cayley tree, and the regime for small {Delta}t is determined by the dynamics of crackle propagation within a single avalanche. We also obtain a mean-field solution of the model which provides information about lung inflation.

Sponsoring Organization:
(US)
OSTI ID:
40230996
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 8; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.088101; Othernumber: PRLTAO000087000008088101000001; 033133PRL; PBD: 20 Aug 2001; ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
The American Physical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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