The stethoscope is a medical device for auscultation, or listening to internal sounds of an animal or human body. It typically has a small disc-shaped resonator that is placed against the naked skin,
This early stethoscope belonged to Laennec. (Science Museum, London)
A Traube-type stethoscope in ivory
Early flexible tube stethoscopes. Golding Bird's instrument is on the left. The instrument on the right is the stethophone.
René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec was a French medical doctor and musician. His skill at carving his own wooden flutes led him to invent the stethoscope in 1816, while working at the Hôpital Necker. He
Stethoscope
…in arteries and veins. In combination with a manual sphygmomanometer, it is commonly used when measuring blood pressure. It was invented in 1816 by René Laennec and the binaural version by Arthur Leared in 1851. A stethoscope that intensifies auscultatory sounds is called a phonendoscope…
Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec
The first drawing of a stethoscope (1819)
Laennec auscultates a patient before his students