Today, doctors, in order to diagnose a patient, can resort to a variety of laboratory tests and other diagnostic options. Unfortunately, even 100 years ago, doctors did not have a tenth of those devices that they can use now. However, already at the beginning of the 19th century a special tube appeared to listen to the patient’s heart and breath. True, at that time few knew the name of the "listening room" among doctors, and the principle of its work was clear. But this simple device in some cases helps the doctor to accurately determine what exactly bothers the patient.
History of creation
For the first time in 1816, the French doctor Rene Laennec decided to use something similar to a modern phonendoscope when examining one noble lady. As he later recalled, due to the age, gender and fullness of the woman, he could not accurately make a diagnosis. Simply applying the ear to the chest did not produce any results. Then Laannek just decided to roll sheets of paper into a tube. This helped him determine her cardiac arrhythmia.
Subsequently, folded sheets of paper were replaced by a tube narrow in the middle and having extensions at both ends. In this case, one of them is wider and repeats the shape of the ear. This allows doctors to more clearly listen to noise in the lungs and heart sounds. A stethoscope is what the "listening" is called by doctors of those times. The phonendoscope got its modern look, like the name, closer to the 20th century. One of the first to use it for diagnosis was the outstanding Russian surgeon Nikolai Sergeyevich Korotkov.
The device of a modern phonendoscope
The phonendoscope, the photo of which is located above, has 3 main parts: a head with a membrane that amplifies sounds, a sound-conducting tube and olive tips for the doctor’s ears. Its main advantage is that, unlike a stethoscope, it allows you to listen to higher frequencies, which makes it indispensable in pulmonology. However, for a more accurate diagnosis, doctors need to listen to low-frequency sounds. Therefore, later a device appeared combining the properties of both devices. There is a membrane on one side of the tip, but not on the other. Thus, the stethophonendoscope is the correct answer to the question of what is called a “listening room” among doctors. Although even physicians themselves rarely use this term, reducing it to a more familiar one - a phonendoscope.
The use of a stetho- and phonendoscope
All 3 devices are used by doctors to this day. Depending on the situation, each of them allows you to identify various diseases in patients. So, a stethoscope is used to listen to the fetal heartbeat. Despite its simplicity, this is the most reliable and safe way to check the well-being of the future baby. But not a single pulmonologist, therapist and pediatrician can do without a stethophonendoscope, since they are the ones who should be the first to diagnose. In cardiology, a mechanical tonometer with a phonendoscope is widely used, which helps not only to listen to heart sounds, but also to measure blood pressure.
In fact, it is not so important for an ordinary patient to know the name of the "listening" by doctors. The main thing is that this simple device has been helping doctors in their work for 100 years. So, during this time, many people were able to get the right and timely treatment. This is much more important than knowing any terms.