Antique Sounds Recovered...

Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have recovered the sound from the oldest playable American recording – by Thomas Alva Edison in 1878.  The recording was made on an entirely mechanical phonograph that worked by pressing a needle into soft tin foil.

The way that the sound was recovered is interesting: the scientists didn't recreate the player.  Instead, they photographed the antique foil with a high resolution, 3D camera – and software analyzed the needle's indentations to recreate the sound.  No device ever even touched the foil.  I'm sure Edison would have been delighted by this!

Here's what the recovered recording sounds like.  Though it's very scratchy, you can hear a cornet playing and a man reciting portions of a couple nursery rhymes (Mary Had a Little Lamb and Old Mother Hubbard)...