Auscultation augmentation device

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The main object of the present invention is to provide a compact, battery-powered device to be used with a conventional stethoscope that will materially improve the signal-to-noise-ratio of the stethoscope output while maintaining the fidelity of sensed anatomy sounds.
A basic preferred embodiment of the invention is a small, self-contained sensing head that is placed on the patient and that is then coupled to the bell of a stethoscope.
This device incorporates two sound-sensing transducers, one that picks up anatomy sounds and ambient noise, and another that preferentially picks up ambient noise alone.
Noise cancellation is effected by the electronic differencing of the amplified outputs of these transducers.
The resulting signal drives a microphone that relays the sound to the stethoscope bell in contact with the device.
An automatic activation circuit is included that allows minimal current drain when the device is not in use.
An elaboration of the basic idea of the invention comprises a modular device that is separable into a sensing portion, and a receiving and annunciating portion.
The two portions of the device can be used in locked-together fashion in the same way the basic embodiment is used or the two portions can be separated so that auscultation of a patient can be achieved at some distance from the patient.
In the separated mode, the sensing portion in contact with the patient transmits a signal over a modulated carrier to the receiving and annunciating portion that is in contact with the stethoscope.
With the use of a number of such receiving and annunciating portions and a corresponding number of stethoscopes, numerous persons can remotely listen to the sounds transmitted by a single sensing portion of the device.
An extension of this telemetry idea uses repeaters for transfer of the signal information to remote locations.
Listening, recording, or analyzing functions can be conducted at these remote locations.
Further, the use of electrical power mains for communicating the sound information throughout the physical extent of a large building or hospital is disclosed