Hush-A-Phone

Hush-A-Phone attached to a candlestick telephone on display at Museum of Communications in Seattle

The Hush-A-Phone was a device designed to attach to the transmitter of a telephone to reduce noise pollution and increase privacy. Sold by the Hush-A-Phone company, the device was frequently described in its commercial advertisements as "a voice silencer designed for confidential conversation, clear transmission and office quiet. Not a permanent attachment. Slips right on and off the mouthpiece of any phone".[1]

Hush-A-Phone Corp. (originally Hush-A-Phone Sales Corp.) was a company founded in New York in 1921 or 1922 to market the Hush-a-Phone.

The device was the topic of a landmark court case, Hush-A-Phone v. United States. The Hush-A-Phone was regularly referred to in telecommunications policy analysis in the 1980s,[2][3][4][5] attracting renewed interest in the 2000s as a symbol of a small company fighting against a monopoly, especially in the context of net neutrality.[6][7] Indeed, because Hush-A-Phone eventually won its case against the phone company, the final legal proceedings involving the Hush-A-Phone turned out to be relevant to the eventual breakup of the Bell system.

Advertisements for the Hush-A-Phone not only argued for its importance as an aid to privacy,[8] but also noted the device improved clarity of sound,[9] which AT&T would directly argue against.

  1. ^ International, Rotary (July 1923). The Rotarian. Rotary International.
  2. ^ Wilsford, David (March 1984). "Exit and Voice: Strategies for Change in Bureaucratic-Legislative Policymaking". Policy Studies Journal. 12 (3): 435. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.1984.tb00319.x. ISSN 1541-0072.
  3. ^ Vietor, Richard; Davidson, Dekkers (Fall 1985). "Economics and Politics of Deregulation: The Issue of Telephone Access Charges". Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 5 (3): 3–23. doi:10.2307/3323410. ISSN 0276-8739. JSTOR 3323410.
  4. ^ Bernard, Keith E. (November 1986). "Regulatory Development in the U.S.". Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 37 (6): 409–414. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(198611)37:6<409::AID-ASI6>3.0.CO;2-Z. ISSN 2330-1635.
  5. ^ Melody, William (September 1989). "Efficiency and Social Policy in Telecommunication: Lessons from the U. S. Experience". Journal of Economic Issues. 23 (3): 657–689. doi:10.1080/00213624.1989.11504933. ISSN 0021-3624. JSTOR 4226167.
  6. ^ Crawford, Susan. "Hush-A-Phone". Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
  7. ^ Wu, Tim (2010). The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0307594655.[page needed]
  8. ^ "Display Ad 194". The New York Times. June 23, 1922. p. 36. ISSN 0362-4331.
  9. ^ "Display Ad 27". The New York Times. June 26, 1922. p. 4. ISSN 0362-4331.