Like, is there some other technological advancement necessary to make it work?
Were electric speakers and microphones not a thing before telephones?
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You have the basic idea and instinct. It’s not fair to say that the telephone was invented suddenly in 1876 and before that we had nothing. The basic concepts and technologies were in play for decades previously, by which I mean the basic construction of microphones and speakers wired together.
It’s less that Alexander Graham Bell just up and invented the whole thing one afternoon, but rather that he combined all the various parts and technologies and made a really well functioning phone AND (and maybe more importantly) he *patented* it.
But yeah, the basic two-microphone two-speaker concept was in play at latest, 20 or 30 years prior to the “invention of the telephone”.
The technology of the day did not have an effective way to cancel interference and the energy inefficiency of the system made it an expensive alternative to shouting. Early microphones did not produce good quality audio and it was difficult to understand the person speaking.
Homes that might have a system like this had pull cords that activated bells to call for servants which would be the only practical use for a one-way only communication system.
The invention of the telephone *was* the invention of electronic microphones and speakers. Before Alexander Graham Bell, the problem of sending a voice through a wire in any way even across very short distances was unsolved. The solution to that problem turned out to be the invention of the electronic microphone, which was invented specifically for use in telephones.
the invention of the phone was less about the actual device, and more about figuring out how ot transmit voice over anything other than speaking distance.
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