Name/Title
STETHOSCOPE, LITTMAN CIRCA 1963Entry/Object ID
2020.19.48Description
1961 - Dr. David Littman set the criteria for the gold standard practical modern stethoscope used today. Dr. Littman was a distinquished cardiologist and international authority on electrocardiography. In 1961 he published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association describing the ideal stethoscope. He required the stethoscope to include an "open chest piece for the appreciation of low-pitched sounds, a closed chest piece with a stiff plastic diaphragm to filter out low-pitched sounds, firm tubing with a single lumen bore, the shortest practical overall length, a spring with precise tension to hold the ear tubes apart, and light and convenient to carry and use." The Littmann Stethoscope rapidly became the stethoscope of choice in America and is still the gold standard for most stethoscopes used today