World’s first AI-equipped stethoscope is made in M’sia

PETALING JAYA: A new made-in-Malaysia stethoscope with artificial intelligence abilities will improve how doctors listen to the heart and lungs, said Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“It will disrupt how we listen to the heart and lungs with detailed and accurate analyses,” he posted on the official Health D-G website yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said this is the first device in the world to have evolved from the traditional stethoscope, which has not been updated in approximately 200 years.

“This cutting edge and innovative stethoscope will also empower remote and rural healthcare through simple yet precise surveillance and detection of heart and lung diseases,” he added.

The Stethee Pro has received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use by medical and healthcare professionals.

The Stethee is designed to work as easily as a traditional stethoscope, allowing users to listen to heart and lung sounds with sophisticated amplification and filtering technology, said Dr Noor Hisham.

He added that the recordings can then be transmitted to a smart device such as a smartphone or a tablet via Bluetooth, and analysed to build a personal biometric signature for each patient to detect the presence of heart or lung diseases.