Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Importance and Types of Medical Stethoscopes

The body's internal organs create distinct sounds when doing typical functions. However, sounds could be different if the person/organ is under stress or out of sync. Medical practitioners can accurately detect an organ's irregular rhythm through medical stethoscope - the device designed solely for auscultation or listening precisely to the internal sounds made by the human body. Irregular rhythms heard from this healthcare supplies device would suggest that a particular organ needs immediate medical attention or needs specific prescription drug to revitalize function.



Just how important are medical stethoscopes to healthcare professionals? Medical practitioners rely on the stethoscope to give accurate diagnoses by listening to the sounds of the lungs, the heart, the intestines, and even blood flow through the veins or arteries. Through long years of study and exposure to the distinct sounds of the human organs, practitioners will know if one is not performing well, the probable cause of the malfunction, and the prescription drug that will revitalize its bodily function. The gravity of the medical practitioner's diagnosis hangs with his ability to use the healthcare supplies device to his advantage.



How does the medical stethoscope work? Stethoscopes operate with the transmission of sound from the chest piece, through air-filled hollow tubes to the listener's ears. As the chest piece is placed on the patient, the vibration of the skin allows the diaphragm (or bell in some models) to vibrate creating acoustic pressure waves that travel up to the hollow tubes to the listener's ears (through the ear piece). Incidentally, the bell in the chest piece delivers low frequency sounds, while the diaphragm is capable of much higher and more audible high frequency sounds.



What are the types of medical stethoscopes? Healthcare supplies outlets can only account for two: the popular acoustic stethoscopes and the electronic type.



Acoustic Stethoscope - Literally operates on the same basic principle but the sound generated through transmission is extremely low that it creates audibility problems. The tuned chest piece can alternate between the bell and diaphragm, whichever offers convenience to the healthcare professional. Recent technical additions include the invention of the stratified continuous (inner) lumen in 1999 and the kinetic acoustic mechanism in 2002 - obviously to improve audibility.



Electronic stethoscope - Magnifies low body sound levels to intensities much more suited to the human ear. However, like any electronic amplifying devices (microphones, speakers and the likes), the efficiency of electronic stethoscopes is limited because mid-range sounds interfere with the internal body sounds. Thus, as a remedy, electronic stethoscopes need to be efficient by converting acoustic sound waves first to electrical impulses prior to magnification and processing for optimum listening.



Be sure to have a clear understanding of what specific medical stethoscope is suited to the requirement, so that a trip to the healthcare supplies outlet will just be as fruitful as picking the most appropriate brand and model.



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