What is a common finding on percussion of a patient with pneumonia?

In patients with pneumonia, percussion typically reveals dullness over the affected lung areas. This dullness occurs due to the presence of fluid or solid material in the alveoli, which diminishes the resonance usually found in healthy lung tissue. When the lungs are filled with fluid (as in pneumonia), the air is displaced, leading to a decreased sound response when tapped.

Conversely, resonance is a normal finding over healthy lung tissue, hyperinflation is associated with conditions like emphysema which involve increased air trapping, and timeliness is not a recognized term in percussion findings in this context. Therefore, the presence of dullness on percussion is a classic indicator of pneumonia, aiding in the diagnosis by revealing changes in lung density.