To get proper treatment it is a must to get a proper diagnosis. The doctors use a number of manual and electronic devices to find out the problem of the patient visiting him. These devices then further provide a guideline to use other means to reach to the right conclusion and diagnosis. Once diagnosed the patient can be treated in the best possible way. The most initial and the basic instrument to get the earliest diagnosis is the stethoscope. It works on the principle of the acoustics. The doctor uses it to listen to the sounds generated within the human body.
The basic structure of all stethoscopes including the Littman stethoscope is very simple and easy to understand. It has a small circular body at the bottom. It is actually the component. It is called the resonator. As the disc is placed on the part of the body you want to inspect the sound reaches the ears after passing through two tube-like extensions. These tubes are added with the earphones. Together the tubes and the earphones look like the headphones that we use to listen to the favorite music; the earphones let you place the two tubes securely in the ears and listen to the sounds generated without any external distortion from the surroundings. The stethoscope allows listening to the heartbeat, monitoring the fluctuations in the blood pressure, determining the performance of the digestive system and keeping a close first-hand check on the fetus in the womb. Almost all the stethoscopes including the Littmann stethoscope function in a similar manner.
Types of stethoscopes
All the stethoscopes are almost working on the same principles of sound waves. The shape and size may vary according to their function and the purpose. The common types of the stethoscopes that you can come across in the medical stores are as follows:
- The most common types of the stethoscopes are the tube and disc stethoscope called the acoustic stethoscope. The doctors listen to the sounds generated from the body with the vibrations generated in the diaphragm of the disc at the bottom. They are usually used for examining the chest region.
- A more sophisticated version of the acoustic stethoscopes is the electronic stethoscopes. In these stethoscopes, the construction is almost the same as that of the basic one but the only difference is how they operate. Instead of manual functioning, it works with the electronic input. The doctors are allowed to improve the quality of the sound.
- Some doctors need to keep track of the past This gives them an idea as to how the patient is doing. There are stethoscopes that are connected with the recording devices. Devices record the sounds and then help the doctor understand the changes and the variations in the performance. The same technology has been used to create similar apps for smartphones.
- The fetal movements in the womb of the mom are a must thing to monitor from the first to the last day in the womb. There is a trumpet-shaped stethoscope that is used to keep track of the baby’s health in the hidden womb.
- Ultrasound machines and the most recent Doppler machines use the stethoscope These are the complex form of stethoscopes.