Editorial
Some high pitched thoughts on chest examination
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Observation reveals that about half of chest physicians use the stethoscope bell when auscultating the lungs and the other half use the diaphragm. None directly apply their ears. Despite extensive reading we have not encountered an evidence based answer to the question "Should normal mortals use the bell or diaphragm?" This unanswered question thus prompted an acoustical odyssey.
Historical noteStrangely the stethoscope was developed by René Théophile Hyacinthe Laennec not to enhance respiratory sounds but rather to avoid embarrassment! In 1816, he was called to a young lady "who presented the general symptoms of disease of the heart; the application of the hand to the chest, and percussion, afforded very little assistance, and immediate [meaning placement of his ear on the chest] auscultation was interdicted by the sex and enbonpoint [a euphemism for breasts] of the patient".1
In 1819, after various trials with materials of different density,
Laennec found a cylinder
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