Why we’re doing what we’re doing

Auscultation, or the practice of listening to sounds made by our organs, is one of the most basic medical procedures in every check-up. The small but powerful device that makes the trademark of a doctor, the stethoscope, was invented centuries ago for this purpose. The procedure, though basic, requires years of training before a doctor can detect abnormalities within seconds of examination. What if we, patients, can do this ourselves? Our team set out to build a digital stethoscope that will automate the process of sound analysis, so that a single untrained press of a stethoscope can tell you something’s up without a visit to the clinic! Whole-day tracking of patients’ health can also enable doctors to make comprehensive diagnoses beyond the clinic! Small as it may be, we hope this project can help to make more concrete the ideal of remote clinical observation and diagnoses.

We’ve all heard of it, probably all seen it, but what does it do?

Listening to body sounds, such as heart and lung sounds, help doctors give the first assessments of the health and functional state of these vital organs. Abnormal sounds may indicate physiological problems that require medical attention, or even act as early signs of disease onset. The chest piece of the binaural stethoscope picks up sounds from the chest cavity. Sound transmits in the plastic tubing where its loudness gets amplified before reaching the ears. With training, one can detect the sounds made by the heart and lungs through the air-tight earpieces. Our device aims to automate both the process of “listening” and “analysis”, making both processes accessible and easy to follow, without needing to resort to expensive or time-consuming procedures in the clinic.