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Home › Articles › Safety Issues › Dabbling with Dopplers

Dabbling with Dopplers

Is Listening in on Baby at Home a Good Idea?

By Alex Powell

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Lindi Clay used a Doppler from about 10 weeks into her pregnancy until delivery. "I had a prior miscarriage, and for my own peace of mind I wanted to hear the baby's heartbeat as much as possible," says Clay, who is from St Louis, Mo. She says the Doppler gave her a sense of relief, and there were no downsides to the experience.

Once reserved for visits with the doctor or midwife, the swooshing sound of a soon-to-be baby's heartbeat can now be enjoyed at home. Many expectant parents are renting or buying Doppler fetoscopes for at-home use.

However, many experts aren't as enthusiastic about the trend. In fact, in 2006 the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advising against over-the-counter availability of Doppler listening devices, in response to a citizen petition for the same.

So what's all the fuss about?

Dissecting the Doppler
In order to understand the concerns about Dopplers, it's important to understand how they work. A Doppler fetoscope uses ultrasound to pick up the fetal heartbeat (it can also pick up many other sounds inside a woman's body). Basically, ultrasound works by emitting sound waves into the body via a probe, then recording the echoes as they bounce back. Doppler ultrasound gets its name from the Doppler Effect – a change in the frequency of sound waves reflected by a moving object.

Doppler fetoscopes are typically made up of a small wand attached to a base unit with speakers. During use, the wand is held to a pregnant woman's abdomen where it releases sound waves that then reflect off her fetus' heart. As the heart beats (moves) it changes the frequency of the echoes – lower frequency as it contracts, or moves away from the probe, higher frequency as it relaxes, bringing it closer to the probe. This change in the frequency of the echoes allows the Doppler to calculate how fast the heart is beating.


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