The iconic stethoscope we've become accustomed to seeing draped around the necks of doctors and healthcare providers may someday be replaced by smartphones and a new portable device, called HeartBuds, that is slightly larger than a quarter.

"They not only detect sounds inside the body just as well - or better - than traditional stethoscopes, but they are more sanitary," said David Bello, MD, department chief of cardiology at Orlando Health, and developer of HeartBuds. "And because they incorporate smartphone technology, we can now record, store and share those sounds as well. This could change the way we approach patient exams in the future."

The stethoscope was invented in 1816 by French physician René La?nnec, and has essentially been unchanged since. But on the eve of its 200th anniversary, the emergence of this new technology could mark the beginning of the end for this medical mainstay.
With HeartBuds, doctors use a small, portable plastic listening device shaped much like the head of a traditional stethoscope. Instead of being attached to a Y-shaped tube that feeds into the doctor's ears, however, this device is plugged into a smartphone.

When the app is activated, sounds from the hand-held device can be played through the smartphone speaker and images appear on the screen showing rhythmic blips that correspond with each sound. Until now, only those wearing the stethoscope could hear what was taking place inside the body, but with this technology health care providers can control the volume, listen to and discuss sounds with patients in real time, and record various sounds for future reference.

"The technology is great, but we wanted to see how our device actually fared against more traditional stethoscopes," said Julio Schwarz, a cardiologist at University of Florida Health who co-authored a recent clinical trial conducted at Orlando Health. "So we put them to the test."

The findings of the study, comparing the effectiveness of HeartBuds to three other stethoscope models, were presented in November at The American Heart Association's 2015 Scientific Sessions held in Orlando, Florida.

In all, doctors examined 50 patients and compared the performance of HeartBuds to two FDA-approved class I and class II stethoscopes, as well as a commonly used disposable model.

Results of the study showed that the HeartBuds smartphone-based device performed just as well as the more expensive and more commonly used class I and class II stethoscopes in detecting heart murmurs and carotid bruits, which are sounds in the neck that indicate moderate to severe blockage of the carotid artery.

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