Experience in the design, development and marketing of a new electronic stethoscopy -: "Stethos™"

The objective of this presentation is to illustrate a successful collaboration between industry and the medical profession for the design, development, clinical evaluation, manufacturing and marketing of a new electronic stethoscope, The first step of the project was the design of a comparative clinical study to determine the advantages and limitations of commercially available acoustic and electronic stethoscopes. This study permitted the identification of the basic characteristics of an optimal electronic stethoscope. The second step consisted of the development of various prototypes used to perform laboratory and clinical tests designed to evaluate the impact of specific features of a new electronic stethoscope on the auscultation of normal subjects and patients. The goals for the third step were to miniaturize the electronic circuits, address the packaging issues, and reduce the manufacturing costs. The last step involved the set up of mass production processes and marketing of the new stethoscope. All steps were successfully completed and the product is now sold worldwide by Agilent Technologies, a former subsidiary of Hewlett Packard under the name of "Stethos(TM)".