A stethoscope is a medical device used for auscultation, listening to the internal sounds of the body, typically with a small disc-shaped resonator placed against the skin connected by tubing to one or two earpieces. The French physician Rene Laennec invented the original monaural version in 1816 at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris, after finding it uncomfortable to place his ear directly against a patient's chest; he discovered that a rolled paper tube placed between his ear and the patient's chest could amplify heart sounds without direct contact. The Irish physician Arthur Leared developed the binaural version in 1851, and Laennec's technique of mediate auscultation, listening through an intermediate instrument, transformed diagnostic medicine.
Facts
YearSourced to the subject's own account SignificanceSourced to the subject's own accountRene Laennec devised the stethoscope because he was uncomfortable placing his ear directly on a woman's chest to listen to her heart, and found that a rolled paper tube could carry the sound instead. 1 FAQs
Why did René Laennec first listen to a heart through a tube of rolled paper?
He wanted to avoid the impropriety of placing his ear on a patient's chest.
In 1816 the French doctor René Laennec listened to a young woman's heart through a tube of rolled-up paper to avoid the embarrassment and impropriety of putting his ear to her chest. He named the device the stethoscope, from the Greek word for chest, stethos, and went on to make wooden versions.
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Source Stethoscope (Wikipedia)
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Source René Laennec (Wikipedia article)
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1. Stethoscope (Wikipedia)
Wikipedialead section, sentence 5
It was invented in 1816 by Rene Laennec and the binaural version by Arthur Leared in 1851.
History section, paragraph 1, sentence 3
Laennec invented the stethoscope because he was not comfortable placing his ear directly onto a woman's chest in order to listen to her heart.
Lead section
It was invented in 1816 by René Laennec
In Field: Biomedical Engineering, Categories
Medical equipment
In Group: Patient Monitoring and Diagnostic Instruments, Lead
The stethoscope (from Ancient Greek στῆθος (stêthos) 'breast' and σκοπέω (skopéō) 'to look') is a medical device for auscultation, or listening to internal sounds of an animal or human body.
View the Source René Laennec (Wikipedia article)
Invented By: René Laennec, LeadQuote, Invented By: René Laennec, Lead
led him to invent the stethoscope in 1816
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