Euphonia Speaking Machine

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In the 17th and 18th century speaking machines were designed to replicate the human vocal tract and produce speech. The speech produced was entirely mechanical and autonomous from the human body. Joseph Faber’s “Euphonia” was one of the most sophisticated and eloquent speaking machines.
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ARTIFICIAL SPEECH

The Euphonia was a remediation of the telegraph, using keys that correspond to specific consonants and vowels, but this transmission ends with an audible voice. Its digital input produces an ephemeral output and like the telegraph, the transmission begins as catoptric and ends as dioptric. Speaking machines free the voice that is trapped in the transmission of messages through the telegraph and even letters. It is the message that can announce and speak itself. It is also a remediation of ventriloquism that allows the dummy to speak without the obscured voice of the ventriloquist. Its piano like structure with seventeen keys and pedals emphasizes Faber not only as creator and generator of this voice but also it’s master and manipulator. Mastery, however, is limited by the capabilities built into the design. While it was designed to speak in a normal tone, a whisper, and to sing, it was not for example, designed to scream. It’s possible that a screaming effect could have been achieved by hacking the machine and manipulating the pedals, which control pitch, but no such instance was ever recorded. Its mechanical monotone also limited the capacity for affect and emotion. It is reported that the Euphonia could speak in any language, although was only demonstrated in English, French and German. This is something that goes beyond the capabilities of most humans and revealing its potential for communication as having even greater possibilities than human communication.

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