Littman

Hippocrates, the Greek physician, used to put his ear to a patient's
chest to listen to the sounds inside. In the 1800's, some dude
invented the modern stethoscope, and then in the 1960's a guy named
Littmann made further advances in stethoscope technology. Littmann
made them cheaper and higher quality than other previous
manufacturers.

My Littmann 3000 is my favorite stethoscope that I have ever used.
Littmann is of course synonymous with quality, and they do indeed make
the best stethoscopes on the market.

Stethoscopes are important tools for listening to heart and lung
sounds. This serves for diagnostic and assessment purposes in the
hands of people trained to recognize the different sounds the body
makes.

The bell and diaphragm of the Littmann 3000 are switchable via a
button. The bell is used to listen to sounds in the lower frequencies,
and the diaphragm in the higher frequencies.

When listening to lung sounds, the use of the bell vs the diaphragm is
really up to the individual user. Personally, I prefer the diaphragm.

For the heart sounds, the Littmann is quickly and easily switchable
over to the low frequency with the push of the button.

One of the major advantages of the Littmann 3000 is the amplification
function. The noise reducing technology on board this stethoscope is
great. While I've found that ambient sounds can still bleed through
the earpieces, ambient sounds from the chest piece are greatly reduced
vs the traditional non-electronic stethoscope. In a noisy, hectic
environment, it makes auscultation much easier.

The only drawback I've found to using the Littmann 3000 is difficulty
in detecting pulse sounds when taking a manual blood pressure.

The Littmann 3000 retails from between $350-$400. I paid $300 for mine
on sale and with an online coupon. While this seems like it may be
expensive, the advantages of having a higher end stethoscope in a
professional environment justify the expenditure.