Ophthalmoscopes & Otoscopes

There are four primary types head, initially designed for traditional otoscopy, providing illuminated magnification of the tympanic membrane. It is comprised of a wide angle-viewing lens, usually with 2.2 times magnification. Although lenses with higher levels of magnification are available, and you can simply slide the lens out to replace it.

The next is the pneumatic otoscope head. This otoscope head was specifically designed to not only provide illuminated magnification of the tympanic membrane, but to enable observation of tympanic membrane movement.

The third traditional type of otoscope head is the operating otoscope head (Figure 5). This head looks most different from the rest of the otoscope heads because of its open-system design. There is a lot of open space that exists between the eyepiece and the tip of the otoscope head where the speculum is.

The fourth type of otoscope head is pictured in Figure 6, which is the video otoscope head. Video otoscope heads do not come equipped with an eyepiece. Rather, there is a cable that extends from the head of the otoscope, and at the other end of that cable is usually a USB or other type of standard connection that allows it to interface with the monitor or computer, so that the tympanic membrane and other structures can be viewed on a screen rather than through an eyepiece.