Stethoscopes may seem like they’re going out of style, considering all the new medical gadgetry being released, but they remain an essential tool for cardiologists, primary care physicians, and others. To bring them into the 21st century, a fifteen year-old son of a cardiologist has developed a smartphone case that works like a stethoscope, but uses the phone to record auscultations and listen to them, and even visualize the audio signal.
The Steth IO device was created by Suman Mulumudi using a MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer, and has a diaphragm that connects to a tube that channels sound to the microphone. This allows the device hear low frequency sounds that the microphone on its own can’t pick up.
Suman has already formed StratoScientific, a company commercializing the device, which plans to apply to the FDA for regulatory approval.
Here’s a video report from KING5 TV out of Seattle:
Product page: Steth IO…