The Mechanical Talking Head: An Early Speech Synthesiser

Photo of the Euphonia
The Euphonia, a mechanical speech synthesiser. Public domain photo, sourced from Atlas Obscura.

In a dimly-lit room in the back of London’s Egyptian Hall, a few curious people had gathered.  Each had paid a shilling for the privilege of seeing the object standing in the centre of the room.  A grotesque device it was — the mask of a woman’s face, framed in the fashionable ringlets of the day, Read the rest

The Voice in the Soot: Humanity’s Earliest Known Recording

Image extracted from the video Let There Be Sound, Part 4 by First Sounds / CC BY.

This is the first known dated recording of the human voice, recorded in 1860 but only played back for the first time in 2008:

Au Clair de la Lune, March 2008 release by First Sounds / CC BY.

Creepy, isn’t it? It reminds me … Read the rest