Megaphone - History

History

The initial inventor of the speaking trumpet is a subject of historical controversy, as both Samuel Morland and Athanasius Kircher lay claim to the device. Morland, in a work published in 1655, wrote about his experimentation with different horns and his most successful variant. This loudest horn was made of over 20 feet of copper and could supposedly project vocalizations as far as a mile and a half.

Twenty years earlier, Kircher described a device that could be used for both broadcasting on one end and “overhearing” on the other. His coiled horn would be wedged into the side of a building, connecting a speaker or listener inside with the surrounding environment.

Morland favored a straight, tube-shaped speaking device, where an initial sound would reverberate in waves through the instrument and gradually become louder. Kircher’s horn, on the other hand, utilized a “cochleate” design, where the horn was twisted and coiled, unlike Morland’s design.

A later, papier-mache trumpet of special design was the Sengerphone.

The term ‘megaphone’ was first associated with Thomas Edison’s instrument 200 years later. In 1878, Edison developed a device similar to the speaking trumpet in hopes of benefiting the deaf and hard of hearing. His variation included three separate funnels lined up in a row. The two outer funnels, which were six feet and eight inches long, were made of paper and connected to a tube inserted in each ear. The middle funnel was similar to Morland’s speaking trumpet, but had a larger slot to insert a user’s mouth.

With Edison’s megaphone, a low whisper could be heard a thousand feet away, while a normal tone of voice could be heard roughly two miles away. On the listening end, the receiver could hear a low whisper at a thousand feet away. However the apparatus was much too large to be portable, limiting its use. George Prescott wrote: “The principal drawback at present is the large size of the apparatus.”

Since the 1960s acoustic megaphones have generally been replaced by electric versions (below), although the cheap, light, rugged acoustic megaphone is still used in a few venues, like cheering at sporting events, cheerleading, and by lifeguards at pools and beaches where the moisture could damage the electronics of electric megaphones.

German soldier using a megaphone to command troops, 1930 German lifeguard with megaphone Austrian jazz singer using megaphone