THE “ HUSH-A-’PHONE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19048, 19 December 1923, Page 3

THE “ HUSH-A-’PHONE

A device that gives a desk telephone the sumo privacy as a silence-box is (says the Daily News) making its appearance •in London offices. It is only a tew months since tho first of these bush-a-phones, as they are called, arrived front America, and already more, than 200’0 have boon installed in London. Tho hush-a-phone consists of tin oblong aluminium box with curved sides. At either end is a sound absorption unit, and in the middle is an aperture into which the speaker places his lips. Its form is based on acoustical principles. It snaps on to tbo telephone around the mouthpiece, at d when not. wanted can be taken off as quickly. Anyone using the hush-a-phone can speak how or what he likes without any bystander hearing anything but a low, indistinguishable murmur. This makes it particularly useful for doctors, lawyers, bank managers, and other professional men, who often have occasion to wish to speak of their clients over the ’phone in their presence. It ensures office quiet, too, where a number of telephones are installed. On long-distance calls it has tho effect of minimising the external sound at the transmission end. Some wonderful results have been obtained during experimental chats between New York and Sac Francisco.