Word of the Day: The Magaphone
The Magaphone, which had its origins in the megaphone, aka the bullhorn, cowhorn, blowhorn, or loudhailer, is today, as it was in the past, used to make a weak voice loud.
A weak voice is projected into the narrow end of the Magaphone by holding it up to the mouth and shouting, thereby, in technical terms, amplifying the acoustic impedance of the vocal cords to match them to the outside air while forcing the sound waves loudly in one direction. This is frequently manifested in a screech because the frequency response of the Magaphone is greater at screechy frequencies. Also, because of the discrepancy in temperatures between input and output, the latter is often described as hot air.
Scientifically speaking, the Magaphone amplifies sound not wisdom.
Sometimes, the Magaphone is referred to, as in old times, a cowhorn or bullhorn, depending upon the gender of its user.
Megaphones were often used by cheerleaders: summoning troops to battle, Cecil B. DeMille directing minions of extras, protest rallies, football teams, beginning at the University of Minnesota in 1898.
In 1672, Samuel Morland built a megaphone consisting of more than 20 feet of copper tubing that could reportedly project a voice a mile and a half. Thomas Edison upped the range to two miles. Today, cable news, Facebook, X, and their like, screech across and over continents. These are not only Magaphones but double, in the reverse, as modern-day versions of the 18th century ear trumpet, which was a boon for the deaf as it narrowly funneled a voice to a listener past outside distractions.
Edison said his deafness allowed him to quiet his mind from “the particular kind of social intercourse that is small talk…all the meaningless sound that normal people hear.” He had never heard of doom-scrolling.
A modern iteration of the ear trumpet is referred to as the Ear Trumper. Its utility is quite opposite from that of the original: It is favored by those who don’t want to listen.
