Two Canadian researchers claim doctors can detect breathing disorders in lung patients better, faster and more accurately using an MP3 player than a stethoscope, the Indonesian news agency Antara reports.
Dr. Neil Skjodt, a respirologist at the University of Alberta, and colleague, audiologist Bill Hodgetts said their findings could lead to the replacement of the traditional medical instrument by the electronic device popularly used for playing and recording music.
The two researchers presented their findings to heart and lung specialists from 100 countries attending the annual congress of the European Respiratory Society in Stockholm, Sweden on Sept. 17 to 18.
Skjodt said he and Hodgetts used an MP3 player to record respiratory sounds during a study. Using a computer to analyze the recorded sounds, they found that an MP3 player can record more sound patterns and with superior quality than conventional and electronic stethoscopes.
The two researchers later conducted experiments to find out the listening skills of health care staff using stethoscopes. In one of their studies, medical students sometimes had to listen to certain clinical sounds up to 500 times before they could recognize them.
Skjodt also said that clinical sounds recorded on an MP3 player can be easily and quickly copied, stored and shared among doctors as reference.
