In 1857, French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville patented the phonautograph, the earliest known device for recording sound. Unlike Thomas Edison's phonograph, which could both record and play back audio, Scott's invention was designed only to write sound waves onto soot-coated paper. Scott believed that these visual transcriptions, which he called "phonautograms," could eventually be read by eye. Consequently, because he never intended for his recordings to be heard, they remained silent, unplayed artifacts for over a century.
In 2008, scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory utilized digital scanning technology to examine Scott's surviving papers. By mapping the soot patterns and translating them into digital audio files, they successfully recovered the voice of a woman singing the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune." [1]
The writer wants to add a sentence at [1] to conclude the passage by emphasizing the historic significance of Scott's invention. Which choice most effectively accomplishes this goal?
- AThomas Edison, who would later invent the phonograph in 1877, also developed a system for motion pictures that revolutionized the entertainment industry.
- Although Scott died believing his work was a failure, the successful recovery of these sounds proved that his device had indeed captured the first recorded voice in human history.Answer
- CThis modern breakthrough finally brought Scott's silent recordings to life, it transformed our understanding of early audio technology.
- DThe digital technology, that the scientists used to play the recordings, proved that Scott's device was a historic success.