Design and Implementation of a Low Cost, Open Access Digital Stethoscope for Social Distanced Medical Care and Tele Auscultation

As quality and availability of information and communication technologies infrastructure improved in urban and rural areas across the world, telemedicine is gaining more attention and momentum to improve healthcare delivery. However, tele auscultation, an essential part of clinical diagnosis, remains challenging due to several factors, including access to an affordable quality digital stethoscope for patients receiving care remotely. The COVID-19 pandemic has exhibited a similar challenge highlighting the need for a low-cost digital stethoscope used while donning personal protective equipment. Motivated by healthcare providers struggle to protect themselves and the patient during the COVID-19 pandemic and to address the challenges of caring for a patient remotely, we designed a low-cost digital stethoscope suitable for both the COVID-19 challenges and tele auscultation based on standard smartphone, off-the-shelf components, open-source 3D-printed parts and tool-free assembly. We present the result of a fully functional digital stethoscope smartphone attachment successfully developed at the cost of approximately $20 and evaluated by participating clinicians.