Uploaded April 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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This experimental wax disc contains the only confirmed recording of the voice of Alexander Graham Bell. He made it in 1885 to test with what clarity the recording could capture spoken numbers. On the recording, after several minutes of counting, Bell concludes:

“This record has been made by Alexander Graham Bell in the presence of Dr. Chichester A. Bell—on the fifteenth of April, 1885, at the Volta Laboratory, 1221 Connecticut Ave., Washington, D.C. In witness whereof—hear my voice. Alexander Graham Bell.”