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The first microphone that enabled proper voice telephony was independently developed in 1878 by British-American inventor David Edward Hughes in England and Emile Berliner and Thomas Edison in the US.
English scientist and inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone was the first person to coin the term "microphone." Wheatstone, however, is best known for inventing the telegraph.
In 1887, German-American inventor Emile Berliner patented the gramophone and the gramophone record.
Thomas Edison, meanwhile, gained fame for the invention of the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera.
While Emile Berliner can share some of the credit for inventing the microphone, it was Hughes' microphone that became the early prototype for the various carbon microphones still in use today.
In a major development, the vacuum tube amplifier was invented in 1915. It helped improve the volume output for devices, including the microphone.
Patented in 1916 by inventor Edward C. Wente while working at Bell Laboratories, initially to improve the audio quality for telephones, the condenser microphone, or capacitor, also enhanced the quality of audio in the microphone.
After the development of radio broadcasting in the 1920s, ribbon microphones were invented to assist in broadcasting. German physicist Walter Schottky and inventor Erwin Gerlach pioneered the technology.
The principles of the ribbon microphone were adequately explained in the 1938 issue of Radio-Craft magazine: "The ribbon microphone is so named because the armature is a light corrugated ribbon of aluminum alloy. The aluminum ribbon is suspended in the field of a permanent magnet and when sound waves strike the ribbon, it vibrates, cutting the magnetic lines of force. Whenever a moving conductor cuts lines of magnetic force, a voltage is induced in the conductor."
As broadcast radio became one of the premier sources for news and entertainment around the world, the demand for improved microphone technology grew exponentially.
Image: Radio in the Home equipment catalog
In the early 1930s, the RCA company was the broadcast market leader, producing the first commercially available ribbon microphones. Radio drama achieved widespread popularity within a decade of its initial development in the 1920s. Orson Welles' notorious October 30, 1938, 'War of the Worlds' episode of the radio series 'The Mercury Theatre on the Air' employed the very latest microphone technology.
The late 1920s and 1930s witnessed the establishment of several professional microphone manufacturing companies, businesses that included Georg Neumann in Germany and Shure Brothers in the United States.
During the Second World War the microphone was responsible for capturing and amplifying some of the most important radio announcements of the conflict, such as General Charles de Gaulle's broadcast to the French people on June 18, 1940.
The advent of the Second World War saw the advancement of the throat microphone—a device actually developed earlier, during the Great War. German Luftwaffe pilots and panzer crews were the first to use throat mics.
The mic was strapped around the neck with two 1-inch round pickups contacting the throat near the Adam's apple, anchored by an elastic strap. These pickups transmitted sound vibrations as the wearer spoke, and allowed voices to be heard over the background tank and battle noises. The technology was later adopted by Allied forces.
The microphone's impact on the American music industry was considerable. Tech transformed music in the late 1930s and the early '40s. The voices of singers like Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra (pictured) were suddenly amplified to a new degree, the microphone allowing for a greater dynamic range.
Conversely, the microphone was employed to carry patriotic messages of hope and reassurance. Pictured is US Armed Forces Radio Service broadcaster Jack Brown with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, broadcasting to American troops overseas using RCA Varacoustic MI-6203 ribbon microphones.
The early 1950s saw the appearance of one of the most iconic microphones ever manufactured, the Shure Brothers microphone, model 55S, similar in design to the one shown here. Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis were among the pioneers of rock and roll pictured performing behind one.
The Cold War brought with it a raft of ingenious eavesdropping devices used in spy craft. Here, a G-man is seen secreting a pickup microphone behind a picture frame, which is attached to a recorder in an adjoining room or another part of the building.
Private detective agencies came up with some very creative ways of using microphones to secure damning spoken evidence, an admission of guilt perhaps, or the whereabouts of a stolen stash.
Wearing a wire was, and remains, a favorite method of eavesdropping and recording conversations in situations where a person knowingly records and transmits the contents of a conversation to a police listening post.
Cinemagoers were afforded a glimpse of how a covert surveillance expert operates in Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Conversation.' Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) employs all sorts of gadgets to record the conversation of a couple embroiled in a potential murder plot, including bugging devices and directional mics.
Shotgun microphones are directional and pick up sound that's directly in front of them while, at the same time, reducing noise coming from other directions. They are typically used on the sidelines of sports arenas.
Other uses for shotgun microphones include as part of a "hatcam," where a camera, shotgun microphone, and transmitter is attached to headwear as a videographer collects live footage for news reports.
First used in 1926 during the early days of filmmaking, a boom mic is a microphone that is placed over subjects during a shoot. It picks up the audio like a regular, handheld mic would.
Wireless microphones today are ubiquitous. But they are not a new invention. Surprisingly, the first patent for a wireless mic was filed way back in 1957 by Raymond A. Litke, an American electrical engineer.
The biggest advantage of a wireless microphone is freedom of movement. Since a wireless microphone is not connected by any cable, the user does not get restricted by the length of the cable. Its application is especially appreciated by news and sports reporters.
And here's a bit of tech trivia to end on: the microphone used in the Amazon Alexa is a S1053 0090 V6 made by American company Knowles. And Knowles was founded in 1946, initially to manufacture hearing aids. The company's other claim to fame is that it famously made the microphones used in the 1969 Moon landing.
Sources: (Shure) (Mixing A Band)
See also: The greatest opening lyrics of all time
Technically, a microphone is a device that converts sound waves into an electrical signal. But we know it as something you use to speak or sing to larger groups of people with. A microphone, colloquially called a mic, is also used to record music, and capture dialogue. Indeed, microphones are most often associated with the music and entertainment industries. But did you know that the devices date back as far as the mid-1800s, when scientists began experimenting with methods of voice telephony?
Intrigued? Click through to amplify your knowledge of the microphone.
The many uses for a microphone
Sounding out the history of microphones
LIFESTYLE Inventions
Technically, a microphone is a device that converts sound waves into an electrical signal. But we know it as something you use to speak or sing to larger groups of people with. A microphone, colloquially called a mic, is also used to record music, and capture dialogue. Indeed, microphones are most often associated with the music and entertainment industries. But did you know that the devices date back as far as the mid-1800s, when scientists began experimenting with methods of voice telephony?
Intrigued? Click through to amplify your knowledge of the microphone.