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Hi, was just wondering what is the best length for a stethoscope. I have pretty much decided on going on and getting a Littman Cardio III, but am not sure whether to get the 22" or the 27"? Any advice you can give me would be awesome. I will be starting N1 in the summer and want to have to only buy one steth and being as I am not sure which area I want to be in, I figured it would be the best for any areas, so only have to purchase one. I hope...lol
Thanks
Check out the official Littmann site...you can find it using Google.
They actually studied whether or not there was an appreciable difference in sound conduction with the shorter tubes vs. the longer tubes. There wasn't.
Littmann makes a 32" veterinary stethoscope (identical to the Master Classic II except for the length of the tube), and I used this stethoscope when I still worked as a veterinary technician. The sound quality was fabulous, even with a squirming, barking patient while auscultating through fur.
Now I have a Cardio III in the 27" length, and although I've only practised on my husband, the sound quality seems to be pretty good.
One of my coworkers ended up with a terrible cracked area in the tubing from wearing it around her neck. One night it broke so bad it was unusable. One of the guys cut out the damaged area and jury-rigged it together with a spot tie to tide her over until she got a new one. it was a good 8 or so inches shorter (was 27").
She found out Littmann would repair damaged stethoscopes so she sent it in, hoping they would replace the tubing and then she could have her 27" stethoscope again. When they sent it back they had indeed replaced the tubing... but had cut it to the same length as the one she sent them. They sent her a note saying that while they had done research showing that customers liked the 27" tubing for XYZ reason yadda yadda, they would be happy to cut hers to the length she previously had.
As a note of interest, when i was in nursing school, one of my instructors would not allow us to wear stethascopes around our necks stating it was a bad habit to get into. apparently there had been research linking nurses/docs who regularly wore them around their necks to increased neck injuries, kind of like a repetitive strain injury. don't know where/when study was from, but found it interesting
How are you measuring tubing length? I have an Ultrascope. I'm not sure where to begin measuring length, but it's pretty long. Very fine, excellent, wonderful, sound with the long tubing.
The manufacturer suggests cleaning the tubing regularly with "Pledge" because the body oils, (from wearing it around the neck?), will degrade the plastic.
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In theory, the shorter the length the better quality of sound. I have been know to cut the length of my littman for better distinction of sounds.