A stethoscope is a diagnostic and examination tool utilized by medical professionals, to listen to a patient’s heart, chest cavity and other pulse points in a non invasive type examination. Before the stethoscope was invented, Doctor’s would place their ear right on a patient’s back or chest and listen for echoes. Doctors often contacted communicable diseases this way. In 1816, Doctors used rolled up paper cylinders placed on the chest to listen for interior sounds. Let’s look at stethoscope reviews and see what stethoscopes are like today.

Today Stethoscopes come in many flavors and varieties. When you read stethoscope reviews, you’ll see that more and more people are talking about cardiology stethoscopes although the classic stethoscopes still seem to be more common. Two of the most purchased stethoscopes are the Littmann Cardiology III stethoscope and the Littmann Classic II SE. The first is a cardiology stethoscope and the second a classic.

A standard, general-purpose stethoscope is bell shaped with a plastic diaphragm, connected to a rubber hose with dual earpieces. Placing the diaphragm on the patient allows the Doctor to hear the amplified sounds from the chest cavity as the patient takes deep breathes. A trained medical professional can interpret the sounds. A standard stethoscope is the proper piece of equipment for performing breathing related tests.

A cardiology stethoscope is used in the examination of heart, lung and blood pressure tones. It has a single sided tunable diaphragm that can alternate between high and low frequency sounds by adjusting the pressure on the chest piece. The cardiology stethoscope has a noise nullifying feature that reduces ambient noise, allowing the Doctor to detect sounds emanated by the heart only. This allows the cardiologist to hear any irregularities of the heart such as a heart murmur.

The difference between the two kinds of stethoscope is the cardiologist stethoscope has a primary purpose and it is for the examination of the heart. Sounds resulting from blood pressure, lungs and other pressure points, except the heart, are muffled. The general-purpose stethoscope is designed to work with different body contours such as around a blood pressure cuff. Be sure to check out the stethoscope reviews before choosing.

Littmann cardiology III stethoscope

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