"StethoSCOPE": a digital learning approach to auscultation
An augmented reality application for medical education: How Susanna Götz developed a project with scientific merit in her master's degree programme in Design and Information.
Part 2 of the two-part series on the Master's programme in Design and Information at THWS.
With StethoSCOPE, Susanna Götz developed an AR application during her studies in the master's programme in Design and Information that supports auscultation training for medical students. The application makes heart sounds audible and locatable. An interdisciplinary project between design, medicine, and research.
Published on 13 February 2026
Susanna Götz found her place between two worlds early on: technology and design. After training in medical electrical engineering, where she worked with dialysis machines, among other things, she quickly realised how much the design of user interfaces influences everyday life in the medical field. "These devices are often difficult to understand because the interface has not been thought through. That makes them prone to errors," she says. The question of how she could improve things with her design perspective never left her mind.
After completing her bachelor's degree in Communication Design at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS), she wanted to delve deeper into the subject. "I wanted to close the gap in the visualisation of medical data," she says. The application for the master's degree in Design and Information offered the perfect framework for this. The "Interactive Media" module taught by Professor Erich Schöls had a particularly lasting impact on her: "The symbiosis of electrical engineering and design appealed to me immediately."
From a technical perspective, she was particularly fascinated by the leap from 2D to 3D: "In theory, everything is flat, but in practice we work with real people." This change in perspective also guided her master's thesis. The specific impetus came from a podcast: only 20 to 30 percent of auscultation findings are correct. Yet the stethoscope is a fundamental tool in medicine. For Susanna Götz, it was clear: "I wanted to help make this skill easier to practise." This gave rise to the idea of an augmented reality (AR) application that not only simulates medical listening but also makes it possible to experience it in a realistic way.
What is auscultation?
In medicine, auscultation refers to listening to bodily sounds, often with a stethoscope, for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases. It is a basic examination method in which medical personnel listen to sounds from the heart, lungs, abdomen, or other parts of the body to obtain clues about diseases.
How augmented reality helps with learning
In diagnostics, listening with a stethoscope is considered a basic method, yet in practice it is often used inaccurately. Götz attended a course at Würzburg University Hospital. "Three hours of lessons on the heart, lungs, and abdomen. That's not nearly enough," she says. "It takes around 500 hours to really master auscultation."
On many platforms, only one audio track is played, regardless of the specific auscultation point. But that is not realistic. "For example, you hear a flow noise at the heart valve, but it sounds different at the ribs." The few auscultation mannequins available are also very expensive, costing around £11,000, and are hardly accessible to students. "I need a 3D visualisation that shows me: where exactly am I hearing what?" Susanna Götz explains. That was the starting point. The current focus is on the heart because it is the most complex to interpret. An extension to include lung sounds is planned. The sounds come from her, recorded with a specially developed microphone setup. "It shouldn't be a clean soundtrack, because that won't be realistic for the everyday life of medical students." She is currently testing Bluetooth stethoscopes to avoid the complex cabling required for recordings.
Together with Frankfurt University Hospital, she is developing further versions of the system: a basic version for teaching, an extended version with case studies based on medical histories, and a trainer version with actors. "Students should learn how to deal with real people, including interaction, not just listening. If they practise this in advance, they lose their inhibitions and gain confidence." The prototype already works with Hololens2. Versions for Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro are currently being developed.
From prototype to doctorate
To enable realistic sound recordings, Götz developed her own microphone setup, which allows her to record six separate heart sounds for six specific auscultation points. At the same time, she ventured into new technical territory: developing the accompanying app meant learning to program – something she taught herself. The application was created in a game engine originally intended for the development of computer games. The guiding principle throughout was: What do medical students really need? And how can this be translated into a system that is as lean and functional as possible? The result is a minimum viable product, i.e. a functioning version limited to the minimum, deliberately avoiding overload: users should be able to concentrate on the essentials – listening, localising, understanding.
Parallel to the technical development, Götz worked closely with medical students. Their feedback and perspectives were directly incorporated into the design, both functionally and in terms of design. "There was a lot of interest right from the start because many people realised that nothing like this existed before," says Götz. Supported by the technology acceptance model, she investigated the acceptance and effectiveness of the application: How realistically are the sounds perceived? How intuitive is the navigation? Is the app a real help compared to previous learning formats?
User-friendliness is a key topic in her ongoing research. The system will be tested and further developed in collaboration with a study group. In the long term, she plans to expand StethoSCOPE into a comprehensive training system that goes beyond pure simulation and also incorporates communicative aspects of medical education. These findings are also part of her doctoral thesis.
What is the difference between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality?
With Augmented Reality (AR), the real world remains visible and is complemented by digital elements, e.g. Pokémon GO. With Virtual-Reality-applications (VR), on the other hand, users completely immerse themselves in the computer-generated world.
Design as research
For Susanna Götz, working on StethoSCOPE was not just a study project – it was her introduction to research. "It allowed me to discover a new side to myself: science," she says. Until then, there had been little connection between design and research. This made it all the more motivating to talk about her project at conferences and receive a Best Paper Award for her master's thesis.
Today, she works at the THWS Institute for Design and Information Systems (IDIS), in an environment that allows her to think interdisciplinarily and collaborate on projects with social relevance. In addition to StethoSCOPE, she supervises other research projects there, including one on communicating historical knowledge through digital formats. "I think it's great to work on things that really make a difference."
Her doctoral thesis ties in directly with her master's project. Currently, the focus is on benchmark analysis: How does StethoSCOPE compare to other learning formats? Where can the application be improved? At the same time, Götz is following a fixed schedule to further develop the app.
If she had to choose one sentence to describe her project? She thinks for a moment, then says: "Making technology visible and usable through design."
Also have a look at part 1 of our two-part series about the master's programme in Design and Information
