Kristie Norton
Professor McGuire
World Civilization 2
May 5, 2014
The Carbon Microphone
Amplifying a person’s voice is a sufficient way of transmitting effective communication from a source to a receiver. Since the development of the carbon microphone, the progression of voice clarity via broadcasting systems has become much more efficient. The carbon microphone is also often referred to as the button microphone or carbon transmitter (“History of Microphones”). Although this specific microphone was not primarily the first voice enhancer ever created, it was ultimately one of the most significant. The carbon microphone was said to have been created between 1876 and 1877. Who exactly came up with this intricate invention is relatively undefined; some sources give all credit to a musically and intellectually talented collegiate professor and inventor named David Edward Hughes (Worrall 3). Others deem credit to a historically well-known inventor by the name of Thomas Alva Edison (Wills). Nonetheless, further sources acknowledge Emile Berliner for this patent of “one of the first ever created and by far the most usable” devices of all time (Shechmeister). Berliner is said to have invented this button microphone sometime in 1876. Later, his patent was refused by the Supreme Court, so the credit was sold to Thomas Edison (Shechmeister). As it turns out in many sources, Hughes actually created the first carbon transmitter microphone, but refused to patent it. Instead, seeing as how he was already a well-known, successful inventor, Hughes simply “reported his invention to the Royal Society in London on 8 May, and made it and its details available to the general public on 9 June” (Worrall). Since the designs of this invention we...
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... of the carbon microphone that make is so distinct from all other electronic sender tones. With the combination of the real sound of a voice passing through the carbon microphone fused with the technology we have today, the model that is created by Oksanen and Valimaki and used by a range of producers “incorporates a filtered noise source to model the self-induced noise generated by the carbon microphones” (Oksanen, Valimaki 27). With the scientific ability our world has today, we are able to recreate a sound that was first discovered over a century ago. The development of the carbon button microphone definitely makes a statement about our ever-changing technological society. Although it was an object invented many years ago during the Second Industrial Revolution, it has been altered and improved and has therefore left an everlasting impact on our society.
Although the silence had no tangible effect in the beginning, it permeated the thoughts of the citizens as the length of the silences grew. When people realized the calming effects of the silence, reliance upon it grew, ultimately creating a political movement in which silence became effectively mandatory. The obsession with silence grew, until noise gained value through scarcity, turning the obsession towards itself. Intervals of noise replaced the intervals of silence, growing in length each time as well. Over time, noise became the major melody of time again, and the silence was all but forgotten in the din of life. Yet in the pattern and intervals of silence and noise, a cryptographer finds a message in morse code, “LISTENWELL” (Brockmeier
Although Thomson set up the first electric system, it was Edison who invented the phonograph in eighteen seventy-seven. Editors at Scientific American, who were some of the first to experience Edison's newest creation, were startled. "The machine began by politely inquiring as to our health, asked how we liked the phonograph, informed us that it was very well, and bid us a cordial good night." (RCA Online 2)
11. Kim-Cohen, S. 2009. In the Blink of an Ear: Toward a Non-Cochlear Sonic Art
Forensic audiology involves applying the knowledge on hearing science and audiology to legal issues. It is not considered as a sub-specialty in audiology, rather, it’s an application of expertise in acoustic, psychoacoustic and noise to work within the legal system. It covers a board spectrum of cases such as occupation or environmental noise, audibility, speech understanding, the effects of noise, pediatrics, central auditory processing and cochlear implants. Forensic audiology is often associated with working with an attorney, especially for cases that involve workers compensation, administrative law and constitutional law.
Steven Connor delves into the mixing and creating of sound by computerisation, as well as the habits of sound; it’s immersion, pathos and objectivity.
The Use of Electronic Technology in 20th and 21st Century Music In this essay, I have examined the use of electronic technology within 20th and 21st Century music. This has involved analysis of the development and continuing refinement of the computer in today’s music industry, as well as the theory of the synthesiser and the various pioneers of electronic technology, including Dr. Robert Moog and Les Paul. Also within the essay, I have discussed the increasing use of computers in the recording studio. The computer has become an indispensable tool in ensuring that both recording and playback sound quality is kept at the maximum possible level. Many positive ideas have come from the continued onslaught of computerisation.
Every invention ever known to man had pioneers or people who contributed to the creation of the product. Radio had many pioneers that allowed for its creation and their names are Heinrich Hertz, Nikola Tesla, Ernst Alexander, Edwin Armstrong, Guglielmo Marconi, Lee DeForest, Frank Conrad, Reginald Fessenden, and Edward Armstrong. It all started with a German physicist named Heinrich Hertz who in 1884 proved that you could transmit and receive electric waves wirelessly. Hertz thought that the work he had done had no use whatsoever but little did he know that what he done is considered the fundamental building block of radio, and that is the reason why every frequency measurement is named after him (Short). In that same year a Serbian-American inventor named Nikola Tesla came to the U.S and sold patents to his inventions to a man named George Westinghouse. After that Tesla established his own lab which is where he built the tesla coil , an induction coil that is still used in radio today (Short). The next progression of radio focused on more than just the transmission of waves, the new focus was transmission of speech. The first to begin to add speech into the radio mix was Ernst Alexander, a Sweden born inventor who developed the first alternator to make speech transmission possible (Short). This was so new to the s...
Music and the relationships of music have changed drastically in our society. The course of studies and the evaluations of the applications of the technology of music, the making and the listening of music have changed in the way we listen to music, the styles of music in our society and in the media. The importance of the technology in music today, has, over the past century been charted through the study of musical examples and through viewing how human values are reflected in this century's timely music. There are very many different types of music that are listened to. There are readings, writings, lectures and discussions on all the different types of music.
The voice is our primary mean of communication and expression. We rarely last more than a few minutes without its use whether it is talking to someone else or humming quietly to ourselves. We can use the voice artistically in many ways. For example, singing carries the rhythm and melody of speech. It creates patterns of pitch, loudness, and duration that tie together syllables, phrases and sentences. We use the voice for survival, emotion, expression, and to reflect our personality. The loss of the voice is a severe curtailment to many professions. It is affected by general body condition which is why we need to consider the location of the larynx and how that organ produces voice. Surprisingly, this complex biological design is mechanical in function. It is mechanical to the point that when it has been excised from a cadaver and mounted on a laboratory bench, the larynx produces sounds resembling normal phonation. (Titze, Principles)
The cylinder phonograph proved to be successful, but the problem with the machine was that the tin foil only allowed a few uses. With the help of another great inventor, new advances could be made to improve this invention. The inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, had set up a laboratory for his cousin, Chichester Bell and Charles Tainter. Bell a...
The origin and history of simultaneous communication are one of the most interesting phenomenons in the world of communication. This based on the fact that simultaneous communication essentially began as a channel of directing someone to something without the use of a particular language. In this, simultaneous language became widely in the any communication process that entailed more than two languages (Gaiba, 1998). It is realized that modern simultaneous interpretation utilizes sophisticated sound equipment for the enhancement of communication, proving simultaneous interpretations historical antecedents. Simultaneous co...
We realised, we being the young filmmakers I used to hang around with, that sound is your special friend and does at least 50% of the job sharing with picture. (Coppola) (Thinking Sound, 2011)
The carbon transmitter uses carbon granules between metal plates called, electrodes, with one consisting of a thin diaphragm that moves by pressure from sound waves and transmits them to the carbon granules. These electrodes conduct electricity flowing through the carbon. The sound waves hit the diaphragm, causing the electrical resistance of the carbon to vary. The electronic transmitter is composed of a thin disk of metal-coated plastic held above a thick, hollow metal disk. This plastic disk is electrically charged, and creates an electric field.
Everyone knows that Music is played an important role in human lives. Music Instruments are also created for people to play and compose songs for them. The Instrument that I want to mention in this paragraph is one of the traditional keyboard Instruments. That is Pipe Organ. This Organ earns a Great reputation as the King of Instruments. The console includes stops, the pedals and there are one to seven manuals or keyboards for a Pipe Organ. This Organ creates sounds by pumping the air through the hundreds of tubes which is controlled by the keyboard. Pipe Organ is inspired by the water Organ in the third century B.C which is invented by the Greek engineer in Egypt. His name is Ktesibios or Tesibius, he is also known as a
Despite the short amount of time since the introduction of the smartphone, the rapid development of the software and technology has had a tremendous effect on the everyday life of society today. The concept of communicating through a telephone was developed in the 1870s. Devices to transmit speech electrically were designed by Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell, but Bell's design was patented first. On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell achieved one of his greatest successes in the making of the telephone. This brought upon a major change in communication and gave leeway to the improvement of the telephone in the days to come (Bellis, 2013b).