I'm forwarding this question to the auditory list for comment

[Harry Erwin <harry.erwin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Interesting problem I'm hoping one of your readers can solve. I'm
about to start wearing hearing aids. Now, I've known this was coming
for some years, so I'm not surprised. However, it presents a problem
for a cardiologist. If I've got hearing aids in, I can't put a
stethoscope into my ears without removing the aids. Minor detail if
one does it once a day, but I put the scope into my ears up to 40
times some days. There are several companies that make stethoscopes
which are electronic and allow one to plug headphones into the
amp...problem solved...except the quality of the few I've tried is
horrible. HP makes a fantastic device called the Stethos. Except they
don't seem to have any ability to hook headphones to the scope. Email
to HP has gone unanswered.

My requests, then. Do any of your readers know of anyone making a
high quality stethoscope (call it cardiology quality) that allows one
to hook headphones to it? Does anyone know someone I can talk to at
HP? The ideal solution would be an induction coil which would allow
the hearing aids to pick up the signal from the stethoscope without
any earphones at all, but I suspect it would be too noisy in a
hospital environment. Any of your readers care to comment.

I've spent hours looking for solutions on the net without any
success. The odd thing is that I can hear heart tones just fine
without hearing aids as the frequency is low enough.

Appreciate the help in advance and free cardiology advice given to
any who respond! (grin)

Mark Huth mhuth@coldswim.com

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Harry Erwin, PhD, Senior Lecturer of Computing, University of
Sunderland. Computational neuroscientist modeling bat bioacoustics
and behavior. <http://world.std.com/~herwin>