What is Touch Tone?
Touch tone is a type of telecommunication system which utilizes dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) sounds to relay a message, usually a phone number, to a system. Each number is assigned a tone frequency and therefore can be used to relay a call to a certain destination. It quickly replaced earlier forms of dialing as a more efficient way to place a call. In the 1970s, a television for a local telephone company compared touch tone dialing to rotary dialing. In the end, it declared the touch tone to be the “greatest thing since the wheel.” While the advertisement may have been a play on words, it had a double meaning. Before the invention of touch tone, a rotary wheel was the most common way to dial a phone number. Thus, it is the reason why touching numbers to place a call is termed “dialing.” The rotary dial works by interrupting a steady signal. The number desired was indicated by the number of times the signal was interrupted. The technology, while reliable, was somewhat cumbersome an
