stetoskop

Stetoskop, or stethoscope in English, is a medical instrument used for auscultation, the act of listening to internal sounds of the body. It is a standard tool for physicians, nurses, and other clinicians to assess heart, lung, and abdominal conditions, among others. The device typically consists of a chest piece with a diaphragm and sometimes a bell, flexible tubing, and a binaural headset worn in the ears. Modern stethoscopes may be acoustic, transmitting sound through air-filled tubing, or electronic, amplifying and occasionally displaying sounds.

Construction and use: The chest piece is placed on the patient’s chest or abdomen, and the clinician listens through the earpieces. Pediatric and adult variants exist, with different chest-piece sizes and tunable diaphragms that allow listening at various frequencies. In addition to routine auscultation, variants such as electronic stethoscopes offer amplified sounds, noise reduction, and sometimes visual waveform analysis. Fetal listening devices and other specialized forms are used in specific obstetric or clinical contexts.

History and development: The stethoscope was invented in 1816 by French physician René Laennec, who developed it to improve auscultation compared with direct ear-to-chest listening. Early designs were hollow wooden tubes; later models evolved into flexible, binaural devices with improved acoustics and, more recently, electronic amplification.

Care and maintenance: Regular cleaning with appropriate disinfectants, avoidance of sharing between patients, and inspection for wear or cracks in tubing preserve performance. Proper storage protects the instrument from damage and maintains acoustic quality.