Subject: I'm forwarding this question to the auditory list for comment From: Harry Erwin <harry.erwin(at)SUNDERLAND.AC.UK> Date: Tue, 15 May 2001 15:44:29 +0100Interesting 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(at)coldswim.com -- --- Harry Erwin, PhD, Senior Lecturer of Computing, University of Sunderland. Computational neuroscientist modeling bat bioacoustics and behavior. <http://world.std.com/~herwin>