Who Invented the Stethoscope?

The stethoscope is one of the most recognizable symbols of the medical profession and doctors and nurses are frequently depicted with the instrument about their neck. Originally created as a method for listening to a patient's heart, contemporary designs are used for listening to the sounds emitted by numerous internal organs including the heart, intestines, and circulatory system. Specialized stethoscopes are used for infants, and enterprising mechanics have even developed stethoscopes to listen to engine sounds.

History

• The practice of listening to a patient's heart, known today as auscultation, dates back at least as far as the Greek physician, Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine.

First Modern

• The French physician, Rene Laennec is credited with inventing the first modern stethoscope in 1816. The instrument consisted of numerous sheets of rolled up paper.

Binaural

• Arthur Leared is credited with inventing the binaural stethoscope in 1851.

Popular

• The Rappaport --Sprague design of stethoscope was developed in the 1940's and remained popular throughout the medical community for more than fifty years.

Littman

• The Littman Stethoscope, named for its inventor, Dr. David Littman, offered greatly enhanced acoustics and was patented in 1963.

Noise Reducing

• The first external noise reducing stethoscope was patented by Richard Deslauriers in 1999.