29. The Reading Tube
Long before AirPods, there was the “Reading Tube” of the 1930s: a set of curved paper funnels that amplified the sound of your own voice so you could silently “read aloud” to yourself. You’d whisper into the tube and hear your voice bounce back in stereo.
It was intended for shy children and introverts. What it became was a classroom joke—students whispering nonsense just to hear their own echo. It didn’t improve literacy, but it did give rise to a generation of amateur ventriloquists. Strange goal, strange success.
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