A new device approved for medical use may replace the stethoscope, a tool created by a French doctor over 200 years ago when he admitted he was too embarrassed to put his ear directly against a woman’s chest.

Like most tools, the stethoscope is getting a digital upgrade to join the ranks of modern medicine. It’s replacement, or alternate tool, is called the Eko Core. It actually attaches to a normal stethoscope and amplifies the sound waves wirelessly to an iPhone app, according to Engadget.

Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), doctors can then record the waveform with the new tool and listen to it later or compare it to a future visit in order to tests the effects of treatment such as different drugs the patient may be starting or stopping.

Although it will also be a great tool in teaching medical students, the inventors of Eko had bigger plans for the Core than that. In clinical trials, the team set out for an algorithm that would compare a patient’s heartbeat to a pre-recorded one in order to classify their rhythm as normal or abnormal. The doctor has always been their focus on the final word in diagnosis, but the app could help in that diagnosis.

Dr. John Chorba, the lead UC San Francisco researcher, said that, “the question is whether the software can identify pathological heart sounds… as the device gets used, you should get more data and the accuracy should improve.”

The inventors still see Eko Core as a success, even if used without the algorithm. They hope it will be most useful to family physicians who might lack the specialty experience of heart specialists.

Dr. Charanjit Rihal, the cardiovascular head at The Mayo Clinic said, “this is probably one of the most important innovations in the plain old stethoscope in recent years.”