phonautograph

English

Etymology

phono- +‎ auto- +‎ -graph

Noun

phonautograph (plural phonautographs)

  1. (historical) One of the first phonographic recording devices, consisting of a horn or barrel focusing sound waves onto a membrane to which a hog's bristle was attached, causing the bristle to move so enabling it to inscribe a visual medium, which could transcribe sound to a visible medium but had no means to play back the sound after it was recorded.
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