Ericovox Speaker Phone

Launched in 1959, the Ericovox was designed as a pyramid that contained all the speaker equipment. It was completely transistorized, and power was provided via the telephone line. Ericovox featured automatic voice control using amplifiers for outgoing and incoming speech, as well as regulator circuits for both amplifiers. The amplification was automatically increased in the direction of the speech, while it was decreased in the opposite direction. Switching was so fast that it was not noticed by the speaking parties. The amplification system in Ericvox was patented and was the first to use completely electronic voice control.

The Ericovox lacked a ring device and a handset and was therefore used with a conventional telephone, typically the Ericofon. Later version of the Ericovox were improved, in part by reducing the impact of noise, and in part by automatically adjusting the strength of the voice signal to the subscriber line characteristics.