human microphone

English

human microphone in use at Occupy Wall Street demonstration

Noun

human microphone (plural not attested)

1. A means of delivering a speech to a large crowd, where the speaker says a few words at a time, and people within hearing of the speaker repeat it in unison. Used to work around police bans of electronic amplifiers.
   • 2013 January 8, Rossana Reguillo, “Human Mic: Technologies for Democracy”, in North American Congress on Latin America‎^[1], retrieved 2013-01-09:

     By linking the word to the body and the crowd, the human microphone transformed an obstacle into an important asset for the social movements in the street.

Synonyms

• the people's microphone