The study investigates the genesis of the third heart sound (S3) in ischemic heart disease based on a mass-spring model. In such a system, the natural frequency of vibration, Fn, depends on the elastic constant, k, and the mass, m, according to the following relationship: Fn = 1/2 pi square root of k/m. To identify the cardiac structures representing k and m, the correlations between the energy of the S3 spectrum and the echocardiographic parameters were searched for. The results are consistent with a model in which k is represented by the thickness of the left ventricle and m by its blood content. The k/m ratio emerges as an important determining factor of the acoustic quality of S3, and yields information on the dysfunction of the left ventricle in ischemic heart disease.