Is the stethoscope on the verge of becoming obsolete?

In 1816 René Laënnec, of Paris, France, invented the first modern stethoscope and ushered in an era of lung and heart auscultation that has been the cornerstone of chest diagnostics for nearly 200 years. This monaural device improved the physician’s ability to hear clues to the underlying pathology and thus apply the appropriate treatment in many cases. You would think that the motivation for developing the first stethoscope would have come from Laënnec’s desire to improve the art of medicine. However, it appears as though the motivation came from an attempt to avoid personal embarrassment.1 Laënnec, a very shy man, dreaded the direct auscultation method that called for placing his ear on the patient’s chest. This procedure was uncomfortable for Laënnec, especially when the patient was a woman. To solve this dilemma, he tried to distance himself from the patient and thought a hollowed-out plank of wood might do the trick.2 To his amazement the device provided improved acoustics and allowed him to hear the lung and heart sounds better than with the direct technique. The device soon gained rapid popularity across France and the rest of Europe.