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A looped tube ending in earpieces and a round chest piece.
Also known as: Doctor symbol
The stethoscope has become the general symbol of a doctor — on hospital signage, medical apps and clinic branding — largely because it is the one instrument a physician is universally pictured wearing.
Stands for a doctor, a medical consultation or clinical care generally, in signage and interface icons.
Contexts: Medicine
The instrument was invented by René Laennec in 1816, initially as a wooden tube; the familiar binaural form with two earpieces came decades later.
A long tube forming a wide loop, its two upper ends turning inward as earpieces and its lower end carrying a flat circular disc.
Both stand for medicine, but the rod is the profession's formal emblem and the stethoscope its everyday shorthand.