How did large congregations of people hear speeches (i.e. Lincoln’s address, and countless other older speeches) without the use of microphones?
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I think crowds were much quieter and listened. Because of PA systems people in crowds are much louder because they can be. The PA system at a basketball game, for example, is insanely loud. As a result, people in the audience are yelling at the person next to them. It’s like an arms race.
Has anyone on here ever been on the railroad like with freight trains? I am thinking about being a conductor I just need to know what to expect
Nobody has mentioned the significance of the crowd itself. The larger the group, the less each word matters.
If ten thousand people show up, that means:
1. They already know pretty much what to expect.
2. The speaker is very good, so they will use not just volume, but enunciation, rhythm and body language
Think of the performance like a concert. You do not need to hear every word to get the message.
I have the answer for this. People would repeat what was being said further back, as in they would pass the word backwards. And speeches would have pauses for this to happen. It is known.
Generally speaking, when speeches were conducted the place was chosen to also amplify the speaker’s voice. Often, the place was built to bounce sound waves about.
It also helped that people were generally bound by a strong moral code, though we may not agree with the code now because the code allowed for horrible atrocities to be committed, and diverting from that code was very much frowned upon. So, if a person would talk too much, they were removed or be socially ostracized, so most people would be quiet.
I always get a giggle out of those pre-battle scenes where the hero/commander rides up and down the front line, encouraging the troops with a perfectly written charismatic speech.
Men are lined up 100 rows deep and 1000 columns wide. But nobody can hear him beyond row three and since he’s riding up and down the line, all soldiers in row 1 can hear is garbled: “Men! Today we… hacked to death but… they cannot take… Forgotten!”
A combination of ways. First off, you pick a venue with great accoustics. We’ve known since the middle ages how to design spaces in such a way as to make what is being said/sung in one spot easily audible throughout. I’ve sung unmiced in cathdrals older than the western world and been heard fine. Also training. My background is in music, and as a vocalist, I have trained myself to enunciate clearly and project the sound. Someone making speeches would recieve similar training.
I’ve heard that Lincoln’s voice carried well because he had a particularly high voice. Apparently high voices carrie further than low/deep voices. That’s why Daniel Day-Lewis portrayed him with that kind of voice in the *Lincoln* movie.
Blessed are the *cheesemakers*?
So I know of old churches that have “speaking stones” they were stone slabs that hung over the speaker to reflect their voice to give more clarity and volume to the audience. Humans have found lots of ways to amplify sounds beyond microphone/speaker technology.
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