---
title: "Who invented the Phonograph?"  
description: "Who invented the Phonograph?"  
author: "Cox elliott"  
published: 2018-08-30  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49204/who-invented-the-phonograph  
category: "innovation, discovery and technology"  
tags: ["innovation, discovery and technology"]  
reading_time: 2 minutes  

---

# Who invented the Phonograph?

Who invented the Phonograph?\
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## Answers

### Answer by Harshal Vispute

**Physical distortions** of **spiral grooves engraved**, **etched**, **carved**, or impressed into the surface of a **spinning cylinder** or disc, referred to as a '**[record](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49720/which-singer-of-india-has-got-honor-to-be-listed-in-guinness-book-of-world-record)**,' capture sound wave patterns. To reproduce the sound, the surface is rotated in the same way, while a playback stylus traces the groove and is vibrated by it, weakly replicating the **recorded sound**.

A **phonograph**, also known as a **gramophone** or, since the **1940s**, a **[record](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49720/which-singer-of-india-has-got-honor-to-be-listed-in-guinness-book-of-world-record) player**, is a **mechanical** and **analog** device that records and reproduces sound. Early acoustic phonographs produced sound waves by vibrating a **diaphragm**, which was either connected to the outside air via a flaring horn or directly to the listener's ears using **stethoscope**-**style** **headphones**.

![Who invented the Phonograph?](https://answers.mindstick.com/QuestionAnswer/1abed553-c93d-4557-adb8-e1313fef0c93/images/49bded52-804e-4cbc-9010-d122a57f1570.jpeg)\

In **1877**, **Thomas Edison** invented the **phonograph**. **Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory** invented the **graphophone** in the **1880s**, using **wax**-**coated paper cylinders** and a **cutting blade** that moved from side to side in a diagonal groove around the disc.

**Emile Berliner**, who coined the term '**phonograph**' for **disc vinyl [recordings](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49720/which-singer-of-india-has-got-honor-to-be-listed-in-guinness-book-of-world-record)**, pioneered the changeover from **gramophone cylinders** to **flattened discs** with a helical groove running from the periphery to near the center in the **1890s**. Over time, modifications were made to the turntable and its motor system, the stylus or needle, the pickup framework, and the **sound** and **equalization systems**.


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