Feb 9, 2009

iStehoscope v2.03

Well, this may be the last update to my istethoscope iphone program for a while as I have a new app to develop! But due to popular demand from iPod touch users, I spent a while developing version 2.03 of iStethoscope. As usual I’ll explain how it works here.

While the previous update makes the program more reliable for 2nd Gen iPod Touch users with microphones, there was still a strange problem with the 1st Gen iPod Touch. One of the users kindly offered to be a tester for me - many thanks, Justin D'Arcy - and with his help I was able to identify the problem. It seems that the early model iPod Touch does not behave normally when dealing with audio. It does not automatically call the "callback" functions when its audio buffers are full. My solution in version 2.03 is not ideal, but I created a special playback mode which force-feeds the audio buffers whether ready or not. This mode is only available to iPod Touch users. On the main screen you'll now see a little microphone symbol to the left of the volume. If you touch it, a red X will appear, meaning "no microphone." Now when you activate the audio by pressing "mode" you will be in the special compatibility mode, and will only have the Accelerometer to play with. The audio quality is not great, but it's the best I can manage, and at least it works. For best quality, you can't beat the iphone 3G.

If you enjoy this application, please check out the popular science book The Undercover Scientist

For support and details of how the previous versions work, look at the official support page.

Peter Bentley (July 22, 2009 5:42 PM):

Hi guys, many thanks for your support of the program. For the latest (firmware 3.0 compatible) version, which also has a huge number of improvements over the original, please go to the AppStore and download "iStethoscope Pro." I am now retiring the original "iStethoscope" and will not be supporting it any further.

L Carol (July 1, 2009 2:54 PM):

I love this program, however it is no longer working since I installed the software v 3.0 on my iPhone. Clicking MODE gives message "failed to initialize audio." and then nothing happens. I uninstalled and reinstalled to no avail ... any suggestions to fix this?

John Morris (June 24, 2009 5:49 PM):

I have the 3G S iPhone also, seeing the error about audio not being initialized. any ideas what the workaround is?

Matt C (June 20, 2009 9:03 AM):

Isn't working under software v 3.0 on iPhone 3GS. Clicking MODE gives message "failed to initialize audio." and then nothing happens.

traci (June 6, 2009 1:04 PM):

i cant see where to read heart rate. i see it on the picture in applications but it doesnt come up on iphone. i hear the sounds great and read the graph however no pulse rate noted. how do i do this? thanks t.

Peter Bentley (February 14, 2009 1:24 PM):

Thanks for your good feedback! I agree the features you suggest would be great, however I would not like people to rely on this fun app for medical diagnoses. The phonocardiogram is significantly limited by the screen resolution so longer recording time would mean you'd also need the ability to zoom in and see closer. Maybe one day I'll do a "professional version" with these extra features, but it'd be quite a bit of work so I'd have to charge for that, I think. If anyone else wants this, let me know!

IDMservices (February 14, 2009 8:47 AM):

Truly a great concept and a great application: HOWEVER ( feed back) If you truly want to take this to its highest level all you would need is 3 KEY life saving additions to this application. (1) Record for a longer time frame ( at least 30 seconds) to insure something usable on the phono-cardiograph. (2) The ability to save the file(s), so you can record different ones at different time frames for comparison to each other. This could really help in the case of an emergency. (3) The ability to e-mail all the phono-cardiograph results to anyone in your address book i.e. your doctor, local hospital. I believe this application is going places. Thanks for a great app. :-)

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