Medical training today has been deeply reshaped by algorithmic diagnostic logics and the emplacement of healthcare in quasi-industrial “care systems”. This evolution of medical knowledge and practice has reshaped how doctors listen to their patients. What deformations might we expect to arise in a context in which medical education is placing premium on medical tests as yielding diagnostic certainty? And how are medical professionals today to weigh the role of the patient’s account of their ailments in relation to the data provided by diagnostic tests and equipment? The dynamics of listening to patients in a diagnostic context will be the focus of my paper, which I approach with a special interest in addressing the markedly lower healthcare outcomes of the intellectually disabled in contemporary healthcare systems.