At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, the microphone is one of the most useful tools ever invented. While not quite on par with the discovery of fire or the creation of the printing press, the ability to convert sound pressure waves into electricity for amplification and transmission is a shining jewel in the crown of human ingenuity and accomplishment.
So, have you ever wondered who the metaphorical Prometheus was who gifted us the microphone? As it turns out, there’s much debate about this topic. After all, there are and have been many different types of microphones, and there are many opinions on which criteria historians should use to decide the original “inventor.” Does it depend on who was first awarded patents for the microphone, whether or not that patent receiver had the idea first? Does the original design need to mirror that of contemporary microphones? Should the first microphone be the one that initially transmitted intelligible speech or listenable music? The microphone’s history is murky and dramatic; an absolute answer still hasn’t been decided. So, let’s explore the microphone’s history and see what we find. But first, we must define one word.
- What Exactly IS a Microphone?
- The Origin of the Word “Microphone”
- The Origin of the Idea of a Microphone
What Exactly IS a Microphone?
Microphones are all around us: in our cell phones, in our computers, and, of course, in our studios. The ubiquity of the microphone might cause us to take such an ingenious device for granted, so before we dive into the microphone’s history, let’s pause briefly to discuss what a microphone actually is.
A microphone is an electroacoustic device with a transducer, actuated by sound waves, that generates a voltage corresponding to those sound waves [1]. In case you’re not familiar with the word “transducer,” it is a device that converts one form of energy into another corresponding form of energy. In the case of a microphone, mechanical wave motion (sound pressure waves) gets converted into electrical voltages. On the other hand, a speaker does exactly the opposite: it converts electrical voltages into sound pressure waves [2].
Note the specification of “essentially equivalent” sound waves. The Encyclopedia Britannica also notes that the “acoustic power” and the resulting “electric power” should have “essentially similar wave characteristics” [3]. This distinction is important because it guides modern debate on who invented the microphone. As stated above, some draw the line starting with microphones that were practically functional/marketable (i.e., could transmit intelligible speech over distance), while others believe that more proof-of-concept microphone inventors have a better claim to the title because although their early inventions may not have been able to re-create entire acoustic signals accurately, they nonetheless demonstrated that transduction of sound into electricity was possible.
The Origin of the Word “Microphone”
1827: Sir Charles Wheatstone
Potentially adding to the confusion of the microphone’s origins is that the term “microphone” originated decades before the actual device came into existence. The word “microphone” was initially used to describe a device that wasn’t even a microphone as we know it today — meaning it didn’t convert one form of energy into another.
In approximately 1827, Sir Charles Wheatstone used the word “microphone”— a combination of the Greek words “micro” (small) and “phon” (sound) — to describe a purely acoustic device that amplified weak sounds, much like a stethoscope [4]. Again, it’s important to note that this device didn’t change the energy form of these sounds; it simply amplified them. Thus, while Wheatstone may have coined the term, he didn’t invent what would become the modern microphone.
The Origin of the Idea of a Microphone
1854: Charles Bourseul
To examine the origins of the modern microphone, we must explore the history of why such a device was desirable in the first place. During the mid-19th century, the race was on to create an invention you’ve likely heard of and one that is arguably even more historic: the telephone. The two are inextricably linked since you need a microphone to make a telephone.Plot twist! So, let’s divert to exploring the history of the telephone. Unsurprisingly, the history of the telephone is also a bit nebulous at times, with some folks favoring proof-of-concept pioneers and others championing functional pathfinders.
The first published notion of transmitting speech and music via telegraph lines came from a French technician, Charles Bourseul, in 1854. It was published in L’Illustration “de Paris” under “Téléphonie électrique.” While Bourseul first published the idea, he didn’t create any device or any experiment to demonstrate it. Still, his concept was theoretically sound (pun intended), and thus, he deserves a mention [5].
1849–1850: Antonio Meucci & His Teletrofono (“Speaking Telegraph”)
If you are squarely in the proof-of-concept camp, then Antonio Meucci makes a compelling case as the microphone’s inventor. And, as is typical of many great discoveries throughout history, he appears to have first discovered the ability to transmit sound via electricity accidentally.
Around 1849 to 1850, Meucci was conducting an electrotherapy experiment involving metal contacts (we’ll omit the technical details here for brevity) when he heard his test subject cry out. He also noticed that he heard his subject’s voice more distinctly than usual, even though they weren’t in the same room. Much like Pavlov and his famous dogs, Meucci’s electrotherapy experiment quickly shifted gears. Meucci then added a cardboard funnel to each metal contact and bade his test subject speak into one funnel while Meucci held the other to his ear. In Meucci’s (translated) words: “He put the funnel to his mouth, and I put mine to my ear. At each moment that said individual spoke, I heard sound of a word, not distinct, a murmur, an inarticulate sound.” Meucci then realized that he “. . . had attained the transmission of human words by means of a wire conductor with a battery of electrical cells, and so named it the Speaking Telegraph” [6].
In 2002, a resolution from the United States House of Representatives essentially recognized Meucci as the inventor of the telephone instead of Alexander Graham Bell, stating that if Meucci had been able to maintain his $10 caveat fee after 1874, then no patent for the telephone could have been granted to Bell. (The resolution also seems to imply that Bell simply stole the idea from Meucci) [7]. It is worth noting that the United States Senate did not join the resolution.
1860–1861: Philipp Reis & His “Telephon”
Alexander Graham Bell gets most of the glory these days for the telephone (at least in the United States). Still, another of the first true telephones was presented 20 years earlier by Philipp Reis — a German inventor who presented his findings to the Physical Society of Frankfurt on October 26, 1861. His first “telephon” apparatus, built in 1860, consisted of a sender (a wooden copy of the human ear) and a receiver (a violin), and the first phrase sent over approximately 50 meters (164 feet) was: “Die Sonne ist von Kupfer” (“The sun is of copper”). This sentence was mistaken, however, as “Die Sonne ist von Zucker” (“The sun is of sugar”) [8].
It was a slight misunderstanding; however, Reis’s various “telephon” iterations (which used what is called a “contact” microphone) all seem to have suffered from some lack of reliable intelligible speech, though some could reproduce tones of different frequencies [9]. Again, this lack of intelligibility is partly why many do not consider Reis the father of the telephone (even though he coined the term [10]). So, which microphone first transmitted intelligible speech?
1875: Alexander Graham Bell & His Electro-magnetic Microphone
The microphone that first appears to have been able to process intelligible speech was Alexander Graham Bell’s electro-magnetic microphone on June 3, 1875. But, even though it transmitted intelligible speech, Bell’s microphone was not deemed workable enough for commercial telephone usage. It would take more development from individuals like Emile Berliner, Thomas Edison, and David Edward Hughes (we’ll get to them in a moment) before a telephony system that could connect people miles apart emerged [11]. The first development that improved upon Bell’s electro-magnetic microphone design was the following.
1876–1877: Elisha Gray & His Liquid Microphone
The plot thickens around this time as Elisha Gray and Bell get embroiled in a legal battle with patents and caveats over the liquid microphone, which utilizes a needle placed into a liquid acid conductor. Debate still rages on about which one developed it first, but the consensus is that Gray never finished the patent process for the liquid microphone. In reality, the liquid microphone was doomed to be short-lived anyway because of subsequent developments that would shape microphones for the next half-century [12].
1877–1892: Berliner, Edison, Hughes & the Carbon Microphone Controversy
Now the plot really thickens, as patents, lawsuits, and even public disputes in the press [13] started flying left and right. Whether referred to as “the loose-contact carbon transducer,” the “carbon button microphone,” or simply the “carbon microphone” — the names appear to be largely, if not entirely, interchangeable. It is arguably the first modern microphone in style and application.
On June 4, 1877, Emile Berliner applied for a patent that set off a 15-year transatlantic firestorm between himself and Thomas Edison, with Edison also dragging British-American inventor David Edward Hughes (and even Lord Kelvin) into the mix. Interestingly, while Hughes revealed his findings in 1878 and may have even claimed the invention as his own, he never attempted to patent it [14]. When the smoke cleared, the Supreme Court of the United States recognized Berliner as the microphone’s inventor by granting him a patent on November 17, 1891 [15].
Then, a year later, they overturned their decision and gave the title to Edison [16].
That Was Intriguing, Wasn’t It?
Thanks for joining me on this tour through microphone history. Is your head spinning yet? Even today, the origins of the microphone and the telephone are still hotly debated. I welcome any constructive criticisms or objections about this article’s content. What’s not debatable, however, is that we owe all these individuals tremendous thanks and respect for gifting us our most indispensable stage and studio tool. If you’d like to learn more about various microphones and their applications — or if you’d like to read more historical articles such as this one on inSync — then don’t hesitate to call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700 and tell us what you think! And if you need a modern microphone, such as a Shure SM58, a Telefunken TF29, an AEA R44C, or a Shure BLX14R/MX53 wireless headset for broadcast, PA, or recording, then Sweetwater has what you need, no matter what kind of mic you need.
Sources
- John R. Sank, “Microphones,” Journal of the Audio Engineering Society 33, No. 7/8, (July/August 1985) 514–547, https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=19006.
- David Miles Huber and Robert E. Runstein, Modern Recording Techniques (New York: Routledge, 2018), 43-44.
- Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopedia. “microphone.” Encyclopedia Britannica, November 10, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/technology/microphone-electroacoustic-device.
- Jim Webb, “Twelve Microphones That Made History,” 2002, https://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/mtgschedules/113conv2002/webb_12-microphones.pdf.
- Ernst-Joachim Völker and Sabine Fischer, “Philipp Reis — from the first telephone to the first microphone,” Audio Engineering Society Convention Paper 5606 (May 2002): 2.
- Angelo Campanella, “Antonio Meucci, The Speaking Telegraph, and The First Telephone,” Acoustics Today 3, No.2, (April 2007) 37-45.
- Congress.gov. “Text – H.Res.269 – 107th Congress (2001-2002): Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives to honor the life and achievements of 19th Century Italian-American inventor Antonio Meucci, and his work in the invention of the telephone.” June 11, 2002. https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-resolution/269/text.
- Völker and Fischer, “Philipp Reis,” 1.
- B.B. Bauer and Kennth L. Kantor, “A Century of Microphones,” Journal of the Audio Engineering Society 35, No. 4, (April 1987) 246–258, http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=5212.
- Martin Clifford, Microphones (Pennsylvania: Tap Books Inc., 1986), 69-70.
- Bauer and Kantor, “A Century of Microphones,” 248.
- “Microphones,” Edison Tech Center, accessed December 4, 2023, https://edisontechcenter.org/microphones.html#hist.
- “The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition,” Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, accessed December 6, 2023, https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/folder/SB032-F#?cv=&c=&m=&s=.
- “David Hughes Microphone,” Computing and Telecommunications, Lemelson-MIT, accessed December 6, 2023 https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/david-hughes.
- “Who Invented the Microphone – How Emile Berliner came up with the invention and how it has impacted the broadcasting industry,” The History Engine, accessed December 6, 2023, https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/6253.
- Andrew Boyd, “No. 2949: Microphone,” The Engines of Our Ingenuity, University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering, June 5, 2014 https://engines.egr.uh.edu/episode/2949.