What is a Stethoscope?

A stethoscope is a medical device used to hear sounds from within the body. It consists of a cup-like "chestpiece" connected by air-filled rubber tubing to two earpieces. The effect is to isolate and magnify the sounds from the internal organs (heart, lungs, blood vessels).

The stethoscope can listen for changes in heart contractions, or breathing, or blood flow (often used to detect a pulse when determining the rate of a heart beat).