speakerphone
SPEE-ker-fohn
/ˈspiːkərfoʊn/
A telephone with a microphone and loudspeaker allowing hands-free conversations for multiple people.
Emphasizes hands-free, shared ambient audio rather than private earphone listening.
The story behind the word. A mid-20th-century compound created during Bell Labs' research into hands-free office teleconferencing. Combining 'speaker' (loudspeaker) and 'phone' (telephone), it enabled multi-party room teleconferencing without holding handsets.
Word relationships
- hands-free: Hands-free is an adjective describing any system operated without holding, while speakerphone is the specific hardware device mode.
- receiver: A receiver isolates call audio for one ear, while a speakerphone projects sound out loud for a room.
Commonly confused with
- receiver: A speakerphone radiates audio publicly, whereas a receiver keeps the conversation private against the user's ear.
Collocations
- put on speakerphone
- switch to speakerphone
- speakerphone mode
- hands-free speakerphone
Example sentences
- "Please put the client on speakerphone so everyone in the conference room can listen." Conference meeting
Memory hook
SPEAKER (loud audio) + PHONE (call device) = hands-free talking for everyone in the room. Talk hands-free out loud.
When not to use
Do not use for external Bluetooth music speakers that lack built-in call microphones.
Fun facts
- Early speakerphones in the 1950s were plagued by high acoustic feedback loop squeals before digital echo cancellation.
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