Okay.. I'm over exaggerating. I can hear with the stethoscope that my school provided to me BUT everything sounds very faint.. Especially bowel & lung sounds. I was told that a cardiology stethoscope would give more amplification. I don't really want to pay a couple hundred for a stethoscope but at the same time I do want something that provides stronger, clearer sounds. Any recommendations? Something with quality that costs a reasonable amount?

1. Maxiscope - costs about $50 and is made by Ultrascope

2. Littmann Lightweight SE - also costs anout $50 and has good sound

3. Sprague Rappaport - costs about $25

Basically, pick a stethoscope that costs between about $25 and $75 and you'll likely have a stethoscope that should be sufficiently good enough to get you through school and into your practice afterward. All the ones that TheCommuter listed are good. Pick one and go for it! The cheap stethoscopes just don't isolate sound or transmit it well to the earpieces (and therefore your ears). They will do the job but they aren't all that good, as you have noticed.

2. Littmann Lightweight SE - also costs anout $50 and has good sound

I have this one for school and so far I'm satisfied with what I hear and it's much better than the cheap one I got from my CNA class.

Pretty much anything by Littman will do the job. Doesn't have to be crazy fancy.

I love my Littman....got it back when I started school. It was a little over $100, but prices may dropped by now. I also find it easier for me to hear with larger soft tip ear buds. The only time I really had a hard time hearing is when I inspected my ear buds and one had a tiny rip in it. Once I replaced the buds, it was as good as new.

I bought mines at allheart.com, got the se stethoscope, it's way cheaper online.. The quality is great!! I know what you mean of the cheap quality one the school provides.. Also think of it as an investment to your education and side note advice.. Get your name engraved on it or a color no one has cause I've gotta one stolen :)

I have the Littmann Lightweight SE stethoscope and it works very well. Highly recommend if you're looking to buy a decent stethoscope that isn't too expensive!

Try making sure your stethoscope eartips are pointed forward, to the tip of your nose. If they aren't and are pointed straight in or backwards (and that's the way they all do it on TV and it makes me laugh every time I see it) the openings in them will be up against the wall of your ear canals, and you will hear nothing at all. Ear canals run back-to-front, not straight in. Number one cause of failure to be able to learn how to take BPs and hear heart, lung, and bowel sounds.

One more thought...

An easy way to amplify the sound quality of a cheapie stethoscope is to remove the diaphragm piece from the tubing, cut approximately three to five inches of the tubing, then reinsert the diaphragm piece into the newly shortened tubing.

People often notice they are able to hear better once the stethoscope tubing is not as long. However, I would only mutilate a cheapie stethoscope. I would never cut a more expensive stethoscope.

The sprague stethoscope work best for me because they have the double-tubing. I have a slight hearing problem and that stethoscope, which was only about $25, works better than the expensive ones I have tried in the past. I would love to have one with a microphone inside, but those are $$ and most of my patients are on isolation, so there would be no point most of the time.

The sprague stethoscope work best for me because they have the double-tubing.

After hearing so much hype about Littmann products, I am so glad another person has stepped forward to vouch for the utility of a Sprague Rappoport stethoscope. The $25 one spends on this stethoscope will be a good investment for years to come.

After hearing so much hype about Littmann products, I am so glad another person has stepped forward to vouch for the utility of a Sprague Rappoport stethoscope. The $25 one spends on this stethoscope will be a good investment for years to come.

I've used those in the past as well. They can be quite good, and since they're in the $25-$80 range, they're likely to be of sufficient quality and clarity to do the job through school and into your professional career. The only thing you have to be sure of when you're using one of these stethoscopes is to simply be careful that you don't rub the tubing together. That creates a lot of noise that can mask what you're listening for. The tubing used is pretty thick so they won't pick up much outside noise at all unless the tubing rubs up against something (like the other tube).

Keeping noise out of the tubing lumen is quite a challenge and the very cheap stethoscopes have tubing that is fairly poor at doing that. That's one area that 3M/Littmann has gotten pretty good at doing with their single-tube stethoscopes - they're far better at keeping noise out than the cheap stuff is.