How the stethoscope was invented | Moments of Vision 7 - Jessica Oreck

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The stethoscope is the single most widely used medical instrument in the world. But where did the idea come from? In the seventh installment of our ‘Moments of Vision’ series, Jessica Oreck shares the modest origins of this incredibly useful item.

Lesson and animation by Jessica Oreck.

In a Moment of Vision...

It's 1816.

A 35-year-old doctor by the name
of René Laennec

is walking through Paris.

He pauses to watch as two children
signal to each other

across a long piece of wooden board.

One child holds the board to her ear.

The other scratches the opposite end

sending the amplified sound
down the length of wood.

Later, Laennec is called to assess
a young woman with a heart condition.

The patient is purportedly quite
well developed

and Laennec expresses some hesitation

in pressing his ear directly
against her chest.

Remembering the children with the board,

Laennec, in a moment of vision
and dignity,

tightly rolls a sheet of paper

and places one end to his ear

and one end over the young
woman's heaving bosom.

He is delighted by
the clarity of the sound.

Laennec spends the next three years
developing and testing various materials

and mechanisms

before settling on a hollow wooden tube
with detachable plug.

His device becomes the forerunner

to the metal, plastic, and rubber
stethoscope we still use today.