The humble stethoscope has been around for a very long time and has aided doctors and other medical professionals to listen deep into a human body.
The word stethoscope is derived from the Greek word “stethos”, which means chest and “skope”, which means examination. So in a literal sense the word would mean “chest examination”.
A stethoscope is a medical device for listening to the internal sounds of a human or animal body. As the word suggests it is mainly used to listen to the lungs and heart, although it is also generally used to listen to the intestines and blood flow.
Stethoscopes are often seen as the iconic symbol of a doctor’s profession. In many TV programmes they are seen wearing a white coat with a stethoscope around their neck.
The humble stethoscope was invented by Rene Laennec in 1816. It was essentially a wooden tube, much resembling a modern trumpet. At the time it was very similar to the ear trumpet. Although not produced in a massive scale it wasn’t until several iterations later that in 1851, George Cammann perfected the design for commercial production.
Several other refinements were made to the design of stethoscopes up until a significant change in the 1960’s. Dr. David Littmann developed a stethoscope that was not only lighter but had better acoustics. Then in the 1970’s Littmann’s company 3M-Littmann introduced a tuneable diaphragm. Further from this 3M-Littmann also created the collapsible frame.
Although 3M-Littmann have made major steps forward for stethoscope design and use, in 1999 Richard Deslauriers the first noise reducing stethoscope called the “DRG puretone”. This design dissipates noise as heat energy.
There are four types of stethoscopes in the world today, the acoustic stethoscope is the one most familiar to people. These transmit the sound of a person’s chest via a chest piece and air-filled tubes to the doctor’s ears.
The electronic stethoscope or “stethophone” tackles the problem of low sound levels by amplifying the sounds of a person’s body electronically.
Recording stethoscopes have got a direct audio output. These are only found on electronic stethoscopes. Therefore the sound that is produced from the human body can be sent to a laptop for digital recording.
A fetal stethoscope or “fetoscope” is shaped like a trumpet, which lends its design to early stethoscopes. Another name by which the fetal stethoscope is known by is “Pinard”, named after the Frenchman Adolphe Pinard.
3m littmann stethoscope should be used by all medical professionals.
Stethoscopes and other medical equipment can be bought from “Morton Medical”.