microphonous

Adjective

microphonous (comparative more microphonous, superlative most microphonous)

1. (obsolete, rare) Serving to augment the intensity of weak sounds; amplifying.
   • Innumerable degrees of crime, but a whisper in the era of Kent and Blackstone, are now of microphonous volume in strenuousness, and as common as the asphyxial conditions which create it.1904, L. G. Meushaw, “Criminology”, in The Plea of the Toiler, →OCLC, part II, page 1
   • The Meteor was a microphonous ear which caught every whisper of the world, and a megaphonic mouth which could trumpet its news to eager millions, or shut itself up as close as a Bank of England vault.1919, Shaw Desmond, chapter 5, in Democracy, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, →OCLC, →OL, page 77
2. (dated, rare) Heard through a microphone.
   • The invasion of the microphonous tribe began in February, when Dusty and Goldie […]1926, Harold Wallace Ross, William Shawn, Tina Brown, David Remnick, Katharine Sergeant Angell White, Rea Irvin, Roger Angell, The New Yorker
   • A microphonous voice, “Calling Doctor Newton, calling Doctor Nowton” and “Calling Doctor Dovey, calling Doctor Dovey,” heard simultaneously in the corridors of the Queen, Mary Hospital has somewhat puzzled patients newly admitted to the institution.1937 July 11, “Radio Voice at Queen Mary Hospital”, in Hong Kong Sunday Herald, volume XII, number 697, page 4