Neat technology, but nonsense title. The Stethoscope is rarely used for something as specific as the heartbeat anymore. Listening to various body systems, though? That’s where it finds use.
Are the lungs congested? Confirming what the sinus rhythm is showi?
Computers, for all their advancements are still diagnostic tools that need confirmation. They still give off false positives and miss things.
Yeah, but having a targeting laser pointed at you looks pretty sick! And isn’t that what medicine is actually all about?
I’m not a doctor, but a technologist. A new diagnostics tool? Good! But I can guarantee that good doctors won’t ditch the stethoscope for anything else. No amount of automation can replace the reassurance that your own senses give you.
This is perhaps more true in the case of mechanical engineering. The touch and feel of the machines can be unfamiliar and changing. And the diagnostics tools are more available (because invasive probing is more acceptable). Despite this, I have noticed that myself and others depend on sight, sounds, heat and sometimes even smell to keep a tab on their health. I don’t think any professional would consider completely cutting off their own senses.
I would trust an EKG 400x more than this any day. Or even a $15 pulse oximeter off Amazon for basic pulse checking.
Why
I mean, I don’t use a scope to listen to pulse. I listen for murmurs, heart sounds, breathing, gut sounds. It sounds nice, but I doubt it is gonna give better info than what can be gotten from a stethoscope, ekg, or ultrasound(this is where a lot of the cutting edge is now in medicine).