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Cropped photograph of the 1874 ear phonautograph showing the mouthpiece and ear components.
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Reconstructing a lost object: can you identify this component in Alexander Graham Bell's 1874 ear phonautograph?

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Tom Everrett, PhD
Ingenium - Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
Sep 7, 2022
The ear phonautograph was a macabre instrument. It was built by Alexander Graham Bell and Clarence J. Blake in 1874, and used a surgically-removed human ear—a skull fragment, ear canal, ear drum, and ossicle bones—to visually “write” sound waves. It worked like this: the surgically-removed ear was first attached to the top bracket of the instrument by a bolt driven through the skull fragment. It was then tightened in place with a thumbscrew. When a user spoke into the mouthpiece, located behind

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