The stethoscope is a staple of modern medication ; but in constituent of the developing world , off - the - shelf model are prohibitively expensive . That ’s why a squad of doctors and hackers in Gaza has started 3-D print their own .
All told , their stethoscope — which reportedly offer better heavy quality than industry models — cost less than five sawbuck to make .
The acoustical reply of the Glia stethoscopes was assessed by conduct sound through a H2O - fill up balloon
Loubani ’s group , which holler itself the Glia projection , has expend the last three years prototyping and field test a home - brew stethoscope , and they ’re finally nearing a ruined Cartesian product . The stethoscope ’s 3D - printed head costs a mere 30 penny , and at least ground on Loubani ’s own acoustic tests ( picture above ) , it offers salutary sound character than the industry moderate Littmann Cardiology 3 . Attaching a tube and an phone brings the total price of the machine to around $ 5 USD . The only affair left to build , Motherboard reports , is the y - piece which burst sound coming from the main pipe ( the one connected to the stethoscope psyche ) into the two signal that go to each of the doc ’s capitulum .
The 3D print stethoscope head
The machine has n’t yet been reviewed by the broad medical community , but Loubani is confident it ’ll expire audio tests with vanish colour . And he ’s already trying to decide what costly aesculapian machine to tackle next . harmonise to Motherboard , the Glia project is currently working on an clear - source impulse oximeter ( a gadget that monitors stemma oxygen levels ) , and an electrocardiogram . The team is keeping all of its codeon GitHubso that doctor on a shoestring around the world can learn and contribute .
Developed in the early nineteenth C , the stethoscope is one of the oldest medical machine still widely used by physicians today . The core functionality of stethoscope has n’t really changed since the mid 20th century , but we ’ve go forward to contribute digital doorbell and whistles over the year , and that ’s push the price up .
It ’s worth remembering that simplicity and practicality matter when you ’re stress to salve lives .
[ Motherboard ]
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Images viaGlia
3D printingMedical devicesMedicine
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