Auscultation can be defined as the process of listening, usually with a stethoscope, to sounds produced by movement of gas or liquid within the body, as an aid to diagnosis (McFerran and Marrtin, 2003 ...

In 1816, French physician Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec had a young woman on his exam table, and no idea what to do with her. She’d come in complaining of chest pains, and their conversation and ...

It is an indispensable medical tool used to assess and diagnose patients. However, we know little about how it was created.

A Google Images search for “doctor” reveals essentially the same picture: a doctor wearing a crisply ironed white coat with a stethoscope draped, scarf-like, around the neck. The only difference ...

Two centuries after its invention, the stethoscope — the very symbol of the medical profession — is facing an uncertain prognosis. It is threatened by hand-held devices that are also pressed against ...