If you've ever read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," you may hear a heartbeat as something a little creepy. Although it's funny to note that on many sound machines for babies, a heartbeat is offered as a way to help them remember one of the sounds they heard in the womb. However, for doctors, the sound of a heartbeat can tell an awful lot about a person. It's one of the first things they listen to during a physical exam. It's also one of the first things an OB-GYN looks for and, later in the pregnancy, listens to for a pregnant woman.

While listening to the heart isn't new in the world of medicine, one of the most common tools for doing so is only a little more than 200 years old.

I'm your host, Emily Prokop, and this is The Story Behind The Stethoscope.

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Media:

Music for Makers

Sources:

• The Art of Listening - US National Library of Medicine
• Evolution of the Stethoscope - CEUfast
• What Do Hanson And Madonna Have In Common? Hits Ideal For Saving A Life - NPR
• It Was Almost Called the Cylinder (& Other Who-Knew Facts about the Stethoscope) - Clinical Correlations
• A short history of stethoscopes - Melnick Medical Museum
• History of the Stethoscope - American Diagnostic Corporation
• A Curious Inspiration for the First Stethoscope - PBS
• Dave Tompkins :: Music Database Browse by Beats Per Minute
• Animal Heartbeats - Everysecond.io