Children make sense of the world around them through play, which is why it's important to encourage imaginative play. Several other minor refinements were made to stethoscopes until, in the early 1960s, David Littmann, a Harvard Medical School professor, created a new stethoscope that was lighter than previous models and had improved acoustics. [11] [12] In the late 1970s, 3M-Littmann introduced the tunable diaphragm: a very hard (G-10) glass-epoxy resin diaphragm member with an overmolded silicone flexible acoustic surround which permitted increased excursion of the diaphragm member in a Z-axis with respect to the plane of the sound collecting area. [13] The left shift to a lower resonant frequency increases the volume of some low frequency sounds due to the longer waves propagated by the increased excursion of the hard diaphragm member suspended in the concentric accountic surround. Conversely, restricting excursion of the diaphragm by pressing the stethoscope diaphragm surface firmly against the anatomical area overlying the physiological sounds of interest, the acoustic surround could also be used to dampen excursion of the diaphragm in response to "z"-axis pressure against a concentric fret. This raises the frequency bias by shortening the wavelength to auscultate a higher range of physiological sounds. Shub C. Echocardiography or auscultation? How to evaluate systolic murmurs. Can Fam Physician. 2003;49:163–7.

Prevailing opinions on the utility of the stethoscope in current clinical practice vary depending on the medical specialty. Studies have shown that auscultation skill (i.e., the ability to make a diagnosis based on what is heard through a stethoscope) has been in decline for some time, such that some medical educators are working to re-establish it. [17] [18] [19] It reminds me a bit of the faux medical station at our local children's museum. The kids go right to it every time we visit.Samuel Wilks, "Evolution of the stethoscope", Popular Science, vol. 22, no. 28, pp. 488–91, Feb 1883 ISSN 0161-7370. Somerville Scott Alison described his invention of the stethophone at the Royal Society in 1858; the stethophone had two separate bells, allowing the user to hear and compare sounds derived from two discrete locations. This was used to do definitive studies on binaural hearing and auditory processing that advanced knowledge of sound localization and eventually lead to an understanding of binaural fusion. [1]

Chowdhury MEH, Khandakar A, Alzoubi K, Mansoor S, Reaz MBI, et al. Real-Time Smart-Digital Stethoscope System for Heart Diseases Monitoring. Sensors (Basel). 2019;19:89. Infant and pediatric stethoscopes have both a bell (open) side and a diaphragm (covered with a membrane) side. The smaller sizes allow the listener to hear only what they want, instead of heart and bowel sounds, which happens when an adult size is used on an infant. With the spread of COVID-19, telemedicine has played an important role, but tele-auscultation is still unavailable in most countries. This study introduces and tests a tele-auscultation system (Stemoscope) and compares the concordance of the Stemoscope with the traditional stethoscope in the evaluation of heart murmurs. Methods

Hedayioglu FL, Mattos SS, Moser L, de Lima ME. Development of a tele-stethoscope and its application in pediatric cardiology. Indian J Exp Biol. 2007;45:86–92. For murmurs detection, the in-person auscultation agreement between Stemoscope and the acoustic stethoscope was 91% ( p = 0.67). The agreement between Stemoscope tele-auscultation and the acoustic stethoscope in-person auscultation was 90% ( p = 0.32). When using the echocardiographic findings as the reference, the agreement between Stemoscope (tele-auscultation) and the acoustic stethoscope (in-person auscultation) was 89% vs. 86% ( p = 1.00). The system evaluated by ten cardiologists is considered easy to use, and most of them would consider using it in a telemedical setting. Conclusion Matt McFarland, "Eko's stethoscope shows the potential of digital technology to reinvent health care", [1], Washington Post

The tubing is latex-free and reportedly durable. Another advantage of this product is that the company offers a lifetime warranty and free replacement parts. This makes it a good investment for people who intend to use a stethoscope for a long period. This is a big deal even in the age of modern technology. A stethoscope is still one of the most valuable diagnostic tools for any clinician. Regarding the device itself, the iteration of the Stemoscope we studied is designed to be used with headphones rather than with a conventional two-tube stethoscope, which is a limitation but also innovation. Because the cardiologists involved in this study were relatively young, they were ready to accept digital auscultation. Since geriatric cardiologists might have difficulty altering their auscultation habits, we should determine their willingness to adopt electronic stethoscope tele-auscultation.

Laennec, R. T. H.; Forbes, John, Sir, A Treatise on the Diseases of the Chest and on Mediate Auscultation (1835). New York: Samuel Wood & Sons; Philadelphia: Desilver, Thomas & Co. . A total of 57 patients with murmurs were recruited, and echocardiographs were performed. Three cardiologists were asked to correctly categorize heart sounds (both systolic murmur and diastolic murmur) as normal vs. abnormal with both the Stemoscope and a traditional acoustic stethoscope under different conditions. Firstly, we compared the in-person auscultation agreement between Stemoscope and the conventional acoustic stethoscope. Secondly, we compared tele-auscultation (recorded heart sounds) agreement between Stemoscope and acoustic results. Thirdly, we compared both the Stemoscope tele-auscultation results and traditional acoustic stethoscope in-person auscultation results with echocardiography. Finally, ten other cardiologists were asked to complete a qualitative questionnaire to assess their experience using the Stemoscope. Results It was recently demonstrated that continuous Doppler enables the auscultation of valvular movements and blood flow sounds that are undetected during cardiac examination with a stethoscope in adults. The Doppler auscultation presented a sensitivity of 84% for the detection of aortic regurgitations while classic stethoscope auscultation presented a sensitivity of 58%. Moreover, Doppler auscultation was superior in the detection of impaired ventricular relaxation. Since the physics of Doppler auscultation and classic auscultation are different, it has been suggested that both methods could complement each other. [29] [30]

Lightweight design and comfortable earpieces: “This is important if you’re wearing the stethoscope all day.” The company is known for using high quality materials (such as steel, aluminum, flexible tubing, and soft earpieces), in addition to superior design and manufacturing. This combo produces a stethoscope that provides the best sound quality possible. Hirosawa T, Harada Y, Ikenoya K, Kakimoto S, Aizawa Y, Shimizu T. The utility of real-time remote auscultation using a Bluetooth-connected electronic stethoscope: open-label randomized controlled pilot trial. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021;9: e23109. Some of these kits include items used in dental offices, as well, which can be helpful for encouraging your child to take care of their teeth. Encourages a child's imagination The sensitivity of the acoustics: “You want a diaphragm and bell to allow you to hear various frequencies and vibrations.”Trips to the doctor can be very frightening for young children and all the explaining in the world doesn't seem to help reassure them.