The second heart sound marks the beginning of diastole - the heart's relaxation phase - when the ventricles fill with blood. In children and teenagers, S2 may be more pronounced. Right ventricular ejection time is slightly longer than left ventricular ejection time. As a result, the pulmonic valve closes a little later than the aortic valve.
Higher closing pressures occur in patients with chronic high blood pressure, pulmonary hypertension, or during exercise or excitement. This results in a louder A2 (the closing sound of the aortic valve).
On the other hand, low blood pressure reduces the sound. The second heart sound may be "split" in patients with right bundle branch block, which results in delayed pulmonic valve closing. Left bundle branch block may cause aortic valve closing (A2) to be slower than pulmonic valve closing (P2).