The peer-reviewed open access journal PLoS ONE describes the validation of a 3D-printed stethoscope which will soon have plans available under a free and open license. The cost to make an entire stethoscope using these plans is estimated to be between $2.5 to $5 USD. The resulting stethoscope apparently functions as well as the market gold standard, the Littmann Cardiology III.
The modern acoustic stethoscope is a useful clinical tool used to detect subtle, pathological changes in cardiac, pulmonary and vascular sounds. Currently, brand-name stethoscopes are expensive despite limited innovations in design or fabrication in recent decades. Consequently, the high cost of high quality, brand name models serves as a barrier to clinicians practicing in various settings, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In this publication, we describe the design and validation of a low-cost open-access (Free/Libre) 3D-printed stethoscope which is comparable to the Littmann Cardiology III for use in low-access clinics.
[...] and the dissemination of plans and bills of material through a Free and open source license.
All the raw data needed to reproduce the analysis, including graphs, figures, and conclusions, are found on Github at https://github.com/GliaX/Stethoscope/tree/master/Testing
From PLoS : Validation of an effective, low cost, Free/open access 3D-printed stethoscope
[Ed: as of posting there is no license on the Github documents. Thus as per the Berne Convention it is not yet freely available, until explicitly published under an open license such as CC or similar. ]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday March 16 2018, @06:37PM (1 child)
I own a Cardiology III, so I would look forward to comparing the two. :)
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Friday March 16 2018, @06:53PM
Excellent. Post or blog about it if you can.
3D printing is finally starting to become useful. As sintering and powder metallurgy become easier, it will be come more practical and more common to work in metals too. Already some car manufacturers 3D print rare spare parts for classics [arstechnica.com]. With the powders it would even be possible to mix weird alloys.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.