CADI - An Intelligent, Multimedia Tutor for Cardiac Auscultation

Abstract

system is designed to tutor medi- cal students and residents in both phases of ausculta- tion: hearing the sounds and diagnosing illness based on what is heard. The system’ s design draws on the case-based teaching architecture (Schank 1991), which in turn is built on goal-based scenarios and case-based reasoning (Hammond 1989). Cardiac auscultation is challenging because it re- quires both special listening skills and extensive do- main knowledge. Teachers and students have found that the best way to learn this skill is to listen to hun- dreds of hearts with an experienced listener. Unfortu- nately, faculty time for teaching in medical schools is scarce, and experienced auscultators are rare. Auscultation begins with listening, but the goal is diagnosis. But one must understand the underlying structures and causes of heart sounds before listening can be used as an aid to diagnosis. Thus, much of