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In Melbourne, Australia, not long ago, a specialist gave advice on a patient’s problem. There is nothing unusual in that—except that the patient was in the far west of New South Wales at the time. That’s hundreds of miles from Melbourne. The heart disease experts were able to make their diagnosis after listening to the patient’s heartbeat over the telephone.
     They were testing a new device that can change readings of a patient’s heartbeat into tone signals that can be sent by telephone. The device was designed in Australia. It’s meant for use in areas far from large cities. Doctors in remote areas can take the heartbeat readings right in the patients’ homes. Then they can play them over a telephone line to specialists in large cities. The doctor in the remote area is thus able to obtain an expert’s opinion on the heart condition of his patient. Experiments with the device show that the whole process takes only a few minutes.