Properly diagnosing patients using a stethoscope requires good hearing to discern the murmurs from normal heart sounds. Yet many doctors and nurses suffer from poor hearing, making it difficult to auscultate their patients, seriously hampering their ability to perform a basic screening.
The Cardionics ViScope aims to solve that problem by providing both amplification of the audio signal and a visual display of the phonocardiogram or phonopneumogram. The device is compatible with In-the-Ear or open fit Behind-the-Ear hearing aids, offering the ability to boost the signal 30 times over a conventional stethoscope.
More about the ViScope from the product page:
Visualization assists the listener in identifying the position of clicks, rubs, knocks, snaps or murmurs in the cardiac cycle.
Murmurs such as aortic stenosis, aortic regurgitation or mitral regurgitation are clearly seen. Pediatric sounds including atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect and primary pulmonary hypertension are easily identified.
How it works: Simply place the stethoscope on the chest and as the sounds are detected, the phonocardiogram of heart sounds will be displayed on the screen. Sounds can be downloaded to the ViScope-100 Software for storage and recall. With a resolution of 1024×768 pixels, the software allows the trace to be enlarged for a better view. Calipers allow measurement of events such as the opening snap of mitral stenosis.
Product page: Cardionics ViScope – Hearing Impaired Model…
Press release: Beyond Hearing Aids Introduces the First Visual Display Amplified Stethoscope… (.doc)