Development and Validation of a Low-Cost Electronic Stethoscope: DIY Digital Stethoscope

Auscultation while wearing PPE (especially coveralls), using traditional stethoscopes is often not feasible. While some commercially electronic stethoscopes can circumvent this problem by playing audio using headphones over/ inside PPE, the currently available ones are too costly. We plugged an electret microphone into earpiece of a stethoscope and through various audio processing algorithms improved the audio quality. We packaged these processes into an app, freely available for download from Google Play Store. Audio quality through this device is at least equivalent to the one heard through traditional stethoscopes. We are validating the device in pediatric and adult clinical setup.