We investigate the time-dependent fractal dimension associated to the time series obtained by the aulscultation of human lung sound during inspiration and expiration, following a standard clinical procedure. It has been verified that the dimension remains constant about 1.49 for normal samples, despite of the physical characteristic of the individuals. In contrast, it has a nonconstant behavior for abnormal cases, when adventitious sounds are present. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.