HYDRODYNAMICS AND ACOUSTICS

2024 ◊ Volume 3 (93) ◊ Issue 1 ◊ p. 67-94

V. T. Grinchenko^*, V. N. Oliynik^*

^* Institute of Hydromechanics of NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

The unfinished history of a stethoscope

Gidrodin. akust. 2024, 3(1):067-094     [Date of publication: 29.03.2024]

https://doi.org/10.15407/jha2024.01.067

TEXT LANGUAGE: Ukrainian

ABSTRACT

Medical auscultation, listening by a physician to cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal sounds, etc., is considered one of the basic methodologies for primary diagnosing various diseases and pathologies of the human body. The paper details the history of the invention and the bicentennial evolution of the stethoscope as a tool for mediate auscultation. We trace the transformation of the stethoscope from Laennec's hearing tube to a well-recognized modern design. Special attention is paid to the introduction of electroacoustic and later electronic technologies into the practice of recording vital sounds. Contrary to established views, such attempts were initiated at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The idea of the complete cycle of recording, storing, and analyzing the objective acoustic features of the auscultation sounds was embodied several times on different levels of contemporary development of technologies. This disproves the widespread myth that the methodology of electronic auscultation is the actual peer of the era of personal computers. In particular, electronic stethoscopes, which have emerged as an independent branch of portable instruments for auscultation, have continuously evolved since at least the 1920s. The design and operational features of several popular models of modern electronic stethoscopes are briefly analyzed. Electronic stethoscopes have a high potential as an element of telemedicine and for operational self-monitoring of the patient. Nowadays, the key condition for their successful implementation in research and clinical practice is a convenient pairing with digital communication devices of the smartphone class. In this context, the functions of local documentation, organization, primary algorithmic analysis, and visualization of auscultation data should be supported, along with the option of integration into the global Internet network. In the future, it is necessary to ensure flexible user access to distributed medical databases and diagnostic servers using the capabilities of artificial intelligence.

KEY WORDS

stethoscope, auscultation, vital sounds, electronic recording, digital signal processing, telemedicine, smartphone

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