Medical students in the US have been repeatedly listening to heart sounds on their iPod in a bid to improve their stethoscope skills.

In a study carried out at Temple University School of Medicine and Hospital, students who listened to sounds suggesting various different heart conditions 500 times each in succession, radically improved their ability to identify such sounds in practical situations.

Previous studies had found that accurate identification ranged from 20 per cent to 40 per cent of cases, but with the iPod method and 3,000 playbacks, this increased to around 89 per cent.

Six abnormal heart sounds, including ones that implied a narrowing of heart valves and heart failure, were recorded onto CDs, which students them loaded onto their iPods.

“We hypothesised that cardiac auscultation is more of a technical skill and thus could be mastered through the use of intensive repetition,” said lead author and associate professor, Michael Barrett.

The study was published in the January issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

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