This invention relates to the field of listening devices and more specifically to a stethoscopic assembly in which sound data picked up by a stethoscope may be transmitted to one or a plurality of receivers. A predetermined amount of buffered sound data can be selectively captured and transmitted, enabling sound data of interest to be shared, such as with a patient and/or other individuals.
Lack of patient involvement during examinations is a significant issue in the medical industry. Patients often submit themselves for examination, but are uncertain of their physician's level of expertise. Since the data used by the physician is often not reviewed with the patient, patients may consider a physician's diagnosis to be suspect. This sequestering of the medical data may also leave many patients feeling unconvinced of the physician's diagnosis, and uninvolved in their medical treatment. It would be advantageous if both physicians and patients could view and/or review the medical data at the same time—thus permitting physicians to both demonstrate their expertise and educate the patient. For example, if a fractured bone is suspected, when the diagnosis is given to the patient, the x-ray is used to illustrate the findings.
Moreover, when physicians are training students, it can be problematic for both physicians and students to analyze data simultaneously, since the data itself may be transient. It would be advantageous if the physician could monitor the data from a patient while the student is observing and, after a data point of interest has been detected, record the data that has just occurred. The recording may then be reviewed with the student (and patient) to further discuss the data.
It is also desirable to permit more than one physician to review patient data simultaneously. Such a configuration permits several medical practitioners, with various levels of expertise, to review received sound data and offer their input. Typically and with current stethoscopes, multiple physicians separately listen to the patient's heart and lung sounds at different moments in time with the hope that these sounds are consistent from one moment to the next. However, such consistency usually does not exist. Moreover, since the sounds can be transitory in nature, changing from one moment to the next, it is far too easy for one of the physicians to fail to hear a characteristic noise that a second physician was able to detect. Some stethoscopes have been developed that permit more than one listener to hear the bodily noises of a patient. However, in these systems the multiple listeners use earpieces which prevent conversation while listening to the patient. In addition, stethoscope systems that currently permit multiple physicians to listen to a signal simultaneously are exceptionally complex as well as expensive and are often inconvenient for use.
For the preceding reasons, among others, a stethoscope modification is desired that obviates at least some of these shortcomings.
The invention comprises, in one form thereof, a stethoscope assembly selectively permits multiple listeners to hear patient sounds. For purposes of this discussion, “multiple’ refers to at least two listeners that can include the physician and patient and/or other physicians or others (for example, family members). Sound waves obtained from a patient are converted into corresponding sound data and then transmitted to one or more receivers. The sound data are continuously stored in the assembly in a memory buffer having a predetermined size.
Upon activation of a control switch, the switch being provided on a separable component or on the stethoscope itself, the data within the buffer is recorded and stored into memory. If the control switch is not activated before the buffer is full, the buffer is overwritten, beginning with the oldest data in the buffer. In this fashion, a medical practitioner may decide to record a sound for future reference after the sound has occurred. This allows the clinician to focus on listening (rather than if the unit records only after a record control was actuated).
One advantage of the herein described stethoscopic assembly is that both physician and patient (as well as other individuals) can readily and simultaneously hear the same patient sounds for analysis, review or other purposes. Another advantage provided herein is that the physician can selectively capture a sound of interest after the sound has occurred, since the sound has already been buffered. Therefore, buffering for later recording and playback facilitates the ability of the physician to concentrate on the task of listening to the patient rather than attempting to synchronize any capture of sound data with the physician or caregiver hoping to “find” a similar sound in the hopes that contemporaneous storage and capture can take place. After the sound(s) of interest are identified, the clinician is able to draw the patient (or other party's) attention to the sounds of interest that are normal or characteristic of a pathology.
These and other features and advantages will become readily apparent to those of sufficient skill in the field of the invention from the following Detailed Description, which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The present invention is disclosed with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description relates to a stethoscopic assembly made in accordance with certain preferred embodiments. It will be readily apparent that other modifications and variations are possible within the intended scope of the inventive concepts described herein. In addition, certain terms are used throughout in order to provide a suitable frame of reference with regard to the accompanying drawings. It is not intended, however, that these terms are to be narrowly interpreted, except where specifically indicated. In addition, similar parts are herein labeled with the same reference numerals between various drawing views for purposes of clarity.
Referring to the figures and specifically to
The earpieces 114 and the chest piece 110 of the stethoscope 104 may be interconnected by a variety of means. In the embodiment depicted in
Referring again to
In the herein described embodiment, the stethoscopic assembly 100 further includes a microphone 140 disposed within the releasably connected portion 122 that can pick up auditory sounds. For purposes described herein, the term “microphone” refers to any suitable acoustical sensors including but not limited to traditional microphones, piezoelectric sensors, and the like. Therefore, the microphone 140 described is intended to be exemplary. Referring to
As shown schematically according to
The transmitter 150 may transmit sound data using any suitable method. For example, the transmitter 150 may transmit the sound data wirelessly as radio waves (RF) within a relatively small range (e.g., 5-15 feet, or other convenient range) to a plurality of multiple receivers, shown as 180. Other suitable transmission modes include infrared (IR) transmission. Preferably, the speaker 186 and the transmitter 150 are set at the same frequency. Due to the small range of the transmitter 150, or pairing method employed, multiple transmitters may operate in the same medical facility without interfering with one another. Advantageously, the transmitted signals can be heard by the wearer of the stethoscope 104, as well as other listeners in real time.
In the herein described embodiment, and referring again to
In the herein described embodiment and in operation, the releasably connected portion 122 is separably usable by the wearer in connection with a patient. The design of this separate component permits a physician to place the releasably connected portion 122 on the back of a patient (not shown), while the user is still facing the patient, providing considerable flexibility and versatility in use. In passing, it should be noted that this separable component can be designed according to numerous form factors and the herein described version is exemplary. As to the predetermined period of time, for example, the preceding 10 seconds of sound data may be stored in the rewritable or volatile memory of the microprocessor 160. As additional sound data is received, the oldest sound data is overwritten as noted above, thus ensuring the buffer contains the most recently received data. According to this embodiment, the user-operable control switch 170, provided on the exterior of the releasably connected portion 122 preferably is a two part switch that includes a capture control the activation of which selectively captures the sound data from the temporary buffer for storage thereof, in the memory of the microprocessor 160 and a playback control that enables the user to retrieve the sound data from storage within the microprocessor and route the sound data to the one or more receivers 180, 200 through the transmitter 150. Alternately, two separate controls can be used to capture and transmit. Such a configuration permits the user to hear a sound of interest in real time and thereafter record such sound to the storage location. The user may then replay the sound for the benefit of the patient or other listeners. The user-operable control switch 170 may be provided on the releasably connected portion 122 as in the present embodiment or alternatively, the switch can be disposed on the user-worn chest piece 110, or on another suitable location. Similarly, the microprocessor 160, including the rewritable memory and storage, may be located within the releasably connected portion 122, the user-worn chest piece 110, or another suitable location in which the user has access to a control to permit record and playback selectively.
The user may play sounds other than the captured sound data. For example, a prerecorded sound may be selected from a digital library of sounds that includes examples of both normal and abnormal sounds. Such a configuration permits the user to play the captured sound data and thereafter play a sample “normal” sound clip. This enables the listener to compare the captured sound to a healthy sound and helps facilitate doctor-patient communication. Additionally or alternatively, the captured sound may be compared to an abnormal sound clip so the patient can hear the similarities.
While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof to adapt to particular situations without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.