Cardiac auscultation training of medical students: a comparison of electronic sensor-based and acoustic stethoscopes

Forty eight third year medical students were randomized to use either an electronic stethoscope, or a conventional acoustic stethoscope during clinical auscultation training. After a training period of four months, cardiac auscultation skills were evaluated using four patients with different cardiac murmurs. Two experienced cardiologists determined correct answers. The students completed a questionnaire for each patient. The thirteen questions were weighted according to their relative importance, and a correct answer was credited from one to six points.No difference in mean score was found between the two groups (p = 0.65). Grading and characterisation of murmurs and, if present, report of non existing murmurs were also rated. None of these yielded any significant differences between the groups.Whether an electronic or a conventional stethoscope was used during training and testing did not affect the students' performance on a cardiac auscultation test.The French physician Rene Laennec invented the first stethoscope in 1816[1]. The use of a modified version was widespread among physicians in the 1830's[2], and the currently used binaural models were designed in the 1870's. Since then a number of attempts to improve the stethoscope have been made, the most recent being the advent of electronic sound transmission. "TheStethoscope？" is a sensor based electronic stethoscope introduced in 1999 by Meditron (Asker, Norway) in cooperation with Welch Allyn (Skaneateles Falls, USA). The stethoscope is equipped with a pressure sensitive sensor, and the signals are converted into sound waves. It is also equipped with a volume regulator and a possibility to apply frequency filtering. The filter has three modes, enhancing low (20–800 Hz), high (200–20000 Hz) or all frequencies. It can be connected to external devices (PC/co-listening unit) allowing recording or sharing of auscultatory findings.Electronic stethoscopes offer potential advantages compared to conventional pneumatic s