Design a Stethoscope Digital to Keep the Medical Practitioner at an Adequate Distance While Examining the Patient

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering 2021-01, Vol.1041 (1), p.12015
• Main Authors: Rusydi, M I, Ningsih, E M, Pawawoi, A, Nofendra, R, Windasari, N
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustics; Bandpass filters; Coronaviruses; Design; Disease transmission; Lungs; Medical research; Sound
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/1041/1/012015

A stethoscope is an instrument in medicine used to listen to the sounds produced in the body or auscultation, primarily to listen to the sound from the lungs and heartbeat. Medical practitioners usually use the sound from a stethoscope as an indicator to diagnose an illness. Regular stethoscope with earpiece is less effective to use since the novel coronavirus quickly spreading from saliva droplets. Medical practitioners have difficulty attaching the conventional stethoscope to the ear because they have to use personal protective equipment, including head covering, to deal with coronavirus patients and patients with other medical complaints. This research designs a digital stethoscope that can be used even the head of medical practitioners covered by safety clothes. This stethoscope has a sound sensor, OLED, a microprocessor, and a speaker. The sound of lungs and heartbeat from 30 volunteers was recorded to investigate the frequency of noise, lung, and heartbeat. A bandpass filter was designed to get the signal with an upper cut-off frequency of 50 Hz to 80 Hz and a lower cut-off frequency of 5 Hz. The result shows that this stethoscope can detect the number of heartbeats and give a clear lung sound. This device can help medical practitioners examine patients while keeping their distance from patients.