Question

Which of the following can be used to make a stethoscope at home?
(a) Rubber tube
(b) Balloon
(c) Funnel
(d) All of the above

Answer 1

The stethoscope is an acoustic medical instrument that can be used to track or listen to the internal sounds of an animal or human body. It normally has a small resonator that is mounted against the skin in the form of a disc and one or two tubes connected to two earpieces.

Complete answer:
Steps for building a stethoscope at home:

1. Take a funnel and, at one end of the flexible tube, place the small end. Drive the funnel into the tube as far as you can.
2. Using appropriate paper, paper the funnel.
3. To extend it out, inflate the balloon. Let the air out, and then cut the balloon's leg.
4. Firmly stretch and tape the remaining portion of the balloon over the open end of the funnel. For the stethoscope, this generates the tympanic membrane
5. To listen to the pulse, tape the funnel end of the stethoscope to the chest and the end of the tube to the ear.
   It is possible to use rubber tubes, balloons, and funnels to create a stethoscope at home.

Additional information: Stethoscope, a medical device used mainly in the heart or lungs to listen to sounds produced within the body. It was invented by the French physician R.T.H. Laënnec, who described the use of a perforated wooden cylinder in 1819 to transmit sounds to the physician's ear from the chest of the patient (Greek: stēthos).

This monaural stethoscope was adapted into more convenient shapes, but with two flexible rubber tubes connecting the chest piece to spring-connected metal tubes with earpieces, it was largely replaced by the binaural type. In particular, when listening to heart sounds, both a bell-shaped, open-ended chest piece that transmits low-pitched sounds well and a flat chest piece covered with a semirigid disc (a type of diaphragm) that senses higher frequency sounds must be used. Instruments are commonly used for both types of the chest piece, arranged so that they can be easily exchanged by turning a valve.
So, the correct answer is ‘(d) All of the above’.

Note: We use our stethoscope to listen to your lungs in various positions on your chest and back, to search for things such as lung infection or fluid, or wheezing caused by an irregular tightness of the tubes that carry air into the lungs (called bronchi).