Stethoscope v. MP3 player
Sweden – According Canadian physician Neil Skjodt a simple MP3 recording device gave a superior performance in auscultation of lung and heart sounds.
At the European Respiratory Society (ERS) congress, in Stockholm, Dr Skjodt, of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, told the audience that by simply pressing the microphone to the chest ‘the quality, clarity and purity of the recorded sounds were better than I have ever heard with a stethoscope.’ But it is still hard to interpret quiet breaking sounds, even using an MP3 Player.
The possibility of replaying and archiving the recorded data for later medical use is a further advantage of the MP3 Player. In follow-up examinations physicians could compare results and even process data with special software to analyse pathological noises.
This article was published on 11/15/2007