Researchers redesign vaginal speculum to ease fear and pain – CTV

July 14, 2025

It is cold, hard, metallic and commonly associated with pain. Not a medieval torture instrument, but the vaginal speculum used every day around the world for essential gynecological exams.

Two engineers at Delft University in the Netherlands are now rethinking the decades-old design of the speculum — long dreaded by many patients — to make it less intimidating and less painful.

“I have a lot of experience with the vaginal speculum, unfortunately,” Tamara Hoveling, one of the researchers behind the project, told AFP.

“I’ve never seen it as a pleasurable experience and I’ve always wondered why it looks like this.”

Sombre history
The PhD candidate in medical industrial design then delved into the dark history behind the creation of the speculum, one version of which was developed by United States doctor James Marion Sims 180 years ago.

It was “tested on enslaved women without permission”, said the 29-year-old.

Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/article/researchers-redesign-vaginal-speculum-to-ease-fear-and-pain/