STAMFORD, Conn. (The New York Times News Service) -- A disembodied voice may be talking to your doctor through his new stethoscope.

But don't worry, he's not losing touch with reality.

The voice belongs to a high-tech system developed by Stamford-based Zargis Medical Corp. and 3M Corp. to detect and analyze heart murmurs, and record, store and transmit body sounds for "telemedicine" consultations far from the originating physician's office.

The Bluetooth-enabled stethoscope and associated Cardioscan and StethAssist software form the medical equivalent of the better mousetrap, according to the company.

"We can reduce costs and improve the quality of health care.

Technology can do that," said Zargis Chief Executive Officer John Kallassy.

A lot can happen in a heartbeat.

Electrical impulses dance from nerves to muscles, cueing them to contract in sequence.

Five tablespoons of blood shoot through and from the heart, carrying oxygen and nutrition to billions of living cells.

Two valves open, and two valves close, the familiar "lub-dub" sound confirming that they're on the job -- and to the trained listener, revealing how good of a job they're doing.

The practice is known as auscultation, a hallowed diagnostic method that connects a patient's heart with a physician's ears via a stethoscope, a relatively low-tech device invented two centuries ago that mechanically amplifies and channels the sound using a diaphragm and hollow tubes.

In an era when we're conversing with machine-made voices on the phone and carrying supercomputers in our backpacks, a new solution was inevitable.

Enter Siemens AG, the German technology giant with a prominent medical division. In the course of developing its ultrasound and other medical diagnostic equipment, Siemens' researchers devised a sound-recognition algorithm that could detect, record and analyze body sounds. But the company, known for its multi-million dollar medical imaging equipment, didn't have a use for what it had developed.

"This kind of product didn't fit their business model," Kallassy said. "I was with a company that does medical instruments. We looked at the technology and asked to go in with them."

Among the benefits Zargis anticipated were better, quicker diagnoses and reduced medical costs from fewer patients being referred for echocardiograms and other tests.

With backing from Speedus Corp., a publicly traded, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based technology investment company led by a member of New Jersey's home-building Hovnanian family, Zargis Medical was formed to refine, expand and commercialize the algorithm.

Zargis put together a technology team heavy on Ph.D.s to handle the development side, and sought a partner with marketplace clout to distribute and sell its products.

Kallassy targeted 3M's Littmann division, a well-regarded stethoscope maker.

With 3M -- better known for Scotch Tape and Post-it Notes, but with an extensive line of medical products and services -- on board, Zargis scientists soon were developing an electronic stethoscope.

Early models were wired to a dedicated PC, but in time for Cardioscan's release in September, the Littmann-branded stethoscope was given the most up-to-date bells and whistles: Bluetooth wireless, noise-canceling technology, an LCD readout and 24-times amplification of the sounds hitting its sensor.

And the price, including self-installing software for the office computer and a Bluetooth transceiver, is about $765, versus $500 to $800 for a single echocardiogram, or maybe $50,000-plus for a new, name-brand, cardiac ultrasound machine.

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures from the American Medical Association, there were 800,000 physicians in the United States as of 2006. Many of them are potential users of the stethoscope and software, according to Kallassy, especially primary care doctors, including family practitioners, pediatricians, gynecologists and internists.

Although cardiologists might be quick to pick up on and diagnose a murmur they hear through a stethoscope, doctors who don't specialize in the heart could sometimes use a little help, he said, adding that many physicians have come to rely on echocardiograms to diagnose murmurs.

"Studies demonstrate that auscultation is a lost art. Today it's easier to just say 'Let's do an echocardiogram,' " he said.

Dr. Sean Beinart, a Rockville, Md., cardiologist and electrophysiologist, agrees.

"We go right to our imaging modalities," he said. "We are not as good at the physical exam as our predecessors were."

With only two months on the market, Zargis is getting some notice.

Popular Science magazine, which evaluates new technology for its readers, took a look at the 3M Littmann 3200 stethoscope with StethAssist and Cardioscan software and bestowed its 2009 Innovation of the Year award.

On the research and development side, Zargis is working to broaden its telemedicine capabilities and create stethoscope software that will move the company into specialties such as gastroenterology and orthopedics potentially veterinary medicine.

"Any use of a stethoscope," Kallassy said.

And someday, if you see your doctor looking at her iPhone while holding a stethoscope to your chest, she won't be checking messages from her broker, she'll be monitoring your heart, courtesy of Zargis and Cardioscan. There soon will be an app for that.

Copyright 2009 The New York Times News Service. All rights reserved.