Telephone
A device for distant voice communication via electronic signals.
A telephone, often called a phone, is a device for talking between people who are too far apart to hear each other directly. It changes sound, most effectively the human voice, into electrical signals that travel through wires or other communication links to another telephone, which turns them back into sound for the listener. The word comes from Greek roots meaning "far" and "voice."
The essential parts of a telephone are a microphone (or transmitter) to speak into and an earphone (or receiver) to hear the distant voice. These are usually built into a handset held to the ear and mouth. The transmitter converts sound waves into electrical signals, which are sent through the telecommunications network to the receiving phone, where they become audible sound in the receiver or a loudspeaker. Telephones allow both people to talk at the same time. Most also have a ringer or a light to signal an incoming call. Calls are started by entering a telephone number on a keypad or dial, which identifies the recipient's phone on the network, though other methods were used early on.
The earliest telephones were wired directly between two locations, but this was impractical beyond a few users. Soon, manually operated switchboards came into use, and these exchanges were linked together, eventually forming an automated, worldwide public switched telephone network. For greater mobility, radio systems were developed in the mid-20th century for ships and cars. Handheld mobile phones for personal use appeared in 1973. Later, analog cellular networks became digital, offering more features and lower costs. The convergence of communication services led to smartphones, which combine mobile computing with telephony and are now the most common type of phone.
Today, telephones come in many forms—landline, cellular, satellite, and internet-based—all connected through the public switched telephone network. This system lets any phone reach another using a unique number, regardless of its technology or location. While mobile and landline services are fully integrated, some internet-based services like VoIP may not always connect directly to the PSTN, though they can still communicate across systems when a link is established.
Before the electric telephone, the term "telephone" was used for other inventions. In 1796, Gottfried Huth proposed a system of giant megaphones called "speaking tubes" for signaling towers. In 1844, Captain John Taylor invented a device for ships that used four air horns to communicate in fog. Around 1860, Johann Philipp Reis used the term for his device, which appears to be the first to convert sound into electrical impulses.
Credit for the electric telephone is often disputed, as several inventors—including Charles Bourseul, Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp Reis, Alexander Graham Bell, and Elisha Gray—worked on voice transmission over wires. In March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received the first U.S. patent for a device that clearly reproduced the human voice at another device. Earlier telephones transmitted sound like a telegraph, using intermittent currents, but Bell found that a fluctuating current worked best. His patent became the master patent for the telephone, leading to many other patents for features. Shortly after Bell's patent, Hungarian engineer Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switch.
- First device to transmit voice via elect
- Johann Philipp Reis telephone (1861)
- Key components
- Microphone (transmitter) and earphone (receiver)
- Modern dominant type
- Smartphone
Lore & Background
Before the electric telephone, the term was applied to other inventions. Credit for the invention of the electric telephone is frequently disputed, with Charles Bourseul, Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp Reis, Alexander Graham Bell, and Elisha Gray among those credited. Alexander Graham Bell was the first awarded a U.S.
Reader's Guide
The telephone's significance lies in its transformation of long-distance communication. The essential elements—a microphone to speak into and an earphone to reproduce sound—were built into a handset. Early telephones were directly connected, but quickly replaced by manually operated switchboards, which evolved into an automated worldwide public switched telephone network. Analog cellular systems later evolved into digital networks, leading to the smartphone, the dominant type today. Modern telephones exist in fixed-line, cellular, satellite, and Internet-based forms, all integrated into the PSTN, allowing any telephone to reach another through a unique number. Some Internet-based services like VoIP may not always be directly connected to the PSTN.
Did You Know?
- Johann Philipp Reis publicly demonstrated the first device to transmit a voice via electronic signals in 1861, using the phrase 'Das Pferd frisst keinen Gurkensalat.'
- In the United Kingdom, 'blower' is slang for a telephone, derived from navy slang for a speaking tube.
From Stagecoaches to Satellites: A Shifting Vocabulary
The phrase we now use to describe communication technology carries a surprisingly long and fluid history. Before the nineteenth century, 'means of communication' referred almost exclusively to physical infrastructure—railways, roads, canals, post riders, and stagecoaches. In 1861, the economist Albert Schäffle widened the definition to cover aids for circulating goods and financial services, explicitly naming newspapers, telegraphy, mail, courier services, and commercial paperwork such as invoices and bills of lading. By 1895, the German newspaper Deutsches Wochenblatt noted that technical means of communication had advanced so dramatically that 'everyone all over the world has become our neighbor.' The word 'medium' itself did not become a synonym for these technical tools until the twentieth century, and the compound 'mass media' only gained real currency in the 1920s. This slow semantic migration reveals how deeply devices like the telephone reshaped what people even considered a 'means of communication' in the first place.
Natural Versus Technical Channels
Scholars draw a fundamental line between natural and technical means of communication. Natural, or 'primary,' media include everything the human body produces without external tools: speech, screams, sign language, winking, applause, gestures, facial expressions, flag signals, and even the codes embedded in clothing, food culture, and architectural styles. Technical means, by contrast, rely on constructed instruments—writing characters on paper, printing technology, tape recorders, projectors, and transmission systems such as the telephone, telegraph, satellite radio, email, fax, and mobile phones. Within corporate and institutional settings, structured documents like feasibility studies, financial analyses, contracts, and scientific publications also function as deliberate channels of information. The telephone sits squarely in the technical category, specifically as a device for transmitting speech to a single addressee, which distinguishes it from broadcast systems designed to address vast audiences simultaneously.
How Theory Sorts the Channels
Communication theory organizes means of communication along several analytical axes. First, models distinguish audiences by scale—individual, group, and mass communication—each demanding different technical and social arrangements. Second, the theory separates natural from technical components, recognizing that a whispered conversation and a satellite radio broadcast operate on entirely different physical principles. Third, speech itself is broken into verbal and nonverbal components, acknowledging that tone, gesture, and imagery carry meaning alongside words. Looking ahead, theorists propose categorizing media by function: data storage, broadcasting, and processing, with emphasis on the ability to record, reproduce, and reduplicate content. A further hierarchy classifies media as primary, secondary, tertiary, or quaternary based on the technology employed by both sender and recipient. The telephone, as a point-to-point transmission tool, occupies a distinct niche in these frameworks, unlike broadcast or storage media.
Mass Reach and the Analog-to-Digital Shift
Mass media is defined by its capacity to deliver the same information to many recipients simultaneously from a single—or even fractional—sender. This encompasses printed products ranging from books and pamphlets to newspapers and posters, radio broadcasting of language and music via radio waves, and television's combined transmission of visual images and sound. The Internet represents the most recent link in a long chain of communicative innovation. Because of their wide dissemination, mass media are uniquely suited to informing the majority of a population at once. On the electronic side, telecommunications developments have enabled long-distance communication through both analog and digital channels. Analog systems encompass certain radio configurations, historical telephony, and legacy television broadcasts, while digital telecommunications support computer-mediated communication, telegraphy, computer networks, digital radio, digital telephony, and digital television. The telephone's own evolution from analog to digital mirrors this broader technological transition.
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