What is Wheezing?

Wheezing is a whistling sound made by breathing when your airways are partly blocked. Asthma or an allergic reaction can cause the air passages in your lungs to narrow. Forcing air through the narrowed airways can make a sound like an accordion.

Wheezing may also be caused by something stuck in your airways (such as a bite of food) or by a tumor or infection that narrows one part of your airways.

Your wheezing may be loud enough for you and the people around you to hear, or it may be so quiet that it can only be hear by your doctor listening to your lungs with a stethoscope.

_Sources:

_{Merck Manual. Symptoms and Diagnosis of Lung and Airway Disorders.  Accessed 1/16/2011. http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/sec04/ch039/ch039b.html}