Heartbuds to launch stethoscopes into digital age

The stethoscope is used by nearly every doctor practicing medicine, and after 200 years, it's finally getting an update.

A French physician invented the stethoscope two centuries ago so he wouldn't have to listen to a woman's heart by placing his ear to her chest.

But until now, the secrets unveiled by the stethoscope could only be transmitted to the doctor listening in.

A new, experimental, high tech version of the stethoscope called Heartbuds can give doctors an accurate reading in the office or even if their patient is halfway around the world.

"You can remotely listen to someone's heart and if someone's got heart failure or has pneumonia and you want to listen to the lungs and the heart, we can do that now via this electronic stethoscope," cardiologist Arnold Einhorn explained.

Not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Heartbuds are connected to a smartphone's app and allows doctors to monitor hearts in the office or patients can record their own vital signs at home and then send them to their physician.

Studies conducted by the Orlando Health Inventors conclude Heartbuds are more sensitive and accurate than many cheaper conventional stethoscopes often found in American hospitals.

Once approved by the FDA, the doctors who invented Heartbuds see multiple uses for it, including having expecting mothers monitor the heart and heartbeats of their fetuses.