First Sounds

What's new?

Did Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville record Abraham Lincoln's voice on a phonautograph in the White House in 1863? We analyze the evidence and origins of this myth. More >>

Subscribe to RSS Feed

About First Sounds

First Sounds is an informal collaborative of audio historians, recording engineers, sound archivists, scientists, other individuals, and organizations who aim to make mankind's earliest sound recordings available to all people for all time. Read more »

Learn more about what First Sounds has achieved:

First Sounds' research featured on page 1 of the March 27 New York Times
Listen to the World's Oldest sound
First Sounds featured on March 27 edition of NPR's All Things Considered
Read press release about international debut of Scott phonautograms