When a doctor listens to your heart with a stethoscope, the sounds your heart makes can help him or her diagnose mitral valve prolapse (MVP) or other valve problems. These sounds are clicks and murmurs.

A distinctive "click" sound in the middle of the normal heartbeat cycle may indicate MVP. This clicking comes from sudden tension placed on the connective tissue (chordae tendineae) that holds your mitral valve in place and from the bulging (prolapse) of the mitral valve flaps (leaflets). However, a click does not always mean that MVP or any other heart problem is present. The presence of a click without a murmur tends to be less serious.

A murmur—a humming sound—may indicate that blood is backing through a faulty valve. When blood backs through the mitral valve into the left upper chamber (left atrium) from the left lower chamber (left ventricle), it is known as mitral valve regurgitation. A murmur is not always present with MVP. A murmur may also increase your risk for developing an inflammation of the heart lining or valve (endocarditis).