When Did Baby Monitors Come Out?

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The baby monitor is now a standard item that all parents should have. Among the essential items for a new family is a baby monitor.

There's good reason for all this vigilance; keeping tabs on your child's after-school activities can help you avoid disasters and ensure you never miss out on precious, intimate moments you'll want to remember forever.

And yet, things weren't always like this. Even fifty years ago, the idea of a baby monitor was unheard of. What transpired, then? We can gain a sense of the evolution of the baby monitor by looking back at its brief history.

Wondered where the idea for the baby monitor came from? Who conceived of this incredible life-saving technology that could double as a robotic babysitter? Given the hectic lifestyles of today's parents, it would be impossible to keep a constant watch on their children any other way.

There is no point in making assumptions. You've found the ideal spot if you're curious about the fascinating development of baby monitors and their potential impact on the future of technology.

Who, what, where, and why did the first baby monitor get created?

There's little doubt about it: a century ago, there were no baby monitors. Our grandmothers can attest to this and remind us with pride of the ways in which we were raised in the good old days (without the help of technology or robotics). And what, exactly, was the shift? The origins of the baby monitor and their rationale for creation are a mystery. Did some worried parent get tired of checking on their baby every five minutes and come up with the idea? We can tell you now that it was only in the worst of circumstances that the idea for this unit was conceived.

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When Were Baby Monitors Invented?

In 1937, the first baby monitors appeared on store shelves. It was a game-changer that reduced stress levels among parents, at least those with sufficient financial means to purchase it. Unfortunately, the circumstances that necessitated the development of the first baby monitor were tragic.

Reasons For Inventing The First Baby Monitor

Kidnapping a baby in 1932 inspired the development of the first baby monitor. Charles Lindbergh's kid was taken from their house and murdered on this sad Tuesday night when he was just 20 months old. His room was searched, and a ransom letter was discovered, corroborating his fears. Among American pilots, Charles was a household name. Both the mother and the nanny were at home on that day, so it's puzzling how this could have happened. Could this have been prevented if there had been a baby monitor in the home? Although we could be wrong, we doubt it. Terribly, a month later, Charles Jr.'s remains were discovered within a few kilometres from the Lindbergh home. This being a high-profile case, it was covered extensively in the media and was the topic of many conversations. Eugene McDonald, president of a company then known as Zenith, was moved by the narrative to create the first baby monitor. The idea behind this baby monitor was straightforward: to protect his child from a similar fate. Mr. McDonald attempted to listen in on his daughter's bedroom by placing the device there. After being convinced of the effectiveness of the unit, he finally gave his firm permission to market it.

In 1937, Zenith Radio Nurse Invented The First Baby Monitor.

While working for Zenith Radio Corporation in 1937, Isamu Noguchi created the first baby monitor. In 1938, Zenith finished manufacturing and releasing their audio baby monitor to the public under the brand name Zenith Radio Nurse. A radio receiver and the Guardian Ear worked together to magnify sound. The analogue intercom system used by the Guardian Ear broadcast over the power line at 300 kHz. There was only one way of communicating.

In 1938, when the Zenith radio nurse first went on sale, it cost $29.95, which is comparable to around $523 now. In addition to the high price tag, there were technical issues with the electrical transmission, primarily distortions and RF interference. In particular, it used the same radio frequency as automobile stereos and garage door openers. Details of the Zenith radio nurse's operation are provided below.

• The Guardian Ear was in charge of an amplification and oscillator circuit, as well as a microphone (modulator ).
• The radio nurse was able to pick up the induced circuit as it travelled through the lighting circuit.
• Zenith Radio's receiver device featured a microphone, amplifier, and speaker. From mic to speaker, the signal was amplified by a factor of around 500 thousand. A receiver may pick up even the faintest of sounds using this.

The Zenith monitor has issues with distortion and speaker shaking at high volumes.

The widespread anti-Japanese feeling that followed Japan's Pearl Harbor attack led to the destruction of numerous radio receivers, making them extremely hard to come across. Nowadays, you may find it in a few different museums or buy it at an antiques store. If you are curious about the Zenith Radio Nurse and would want additional information, the original Zenith Radio Manual is available for your perusal.

Check out our range of safety baby monitors here.

Changes In Baby Monitors From 1937 To 1970

Zenith Radio, the original baby monitor, used an electrical circuit to transmit analogue audio signals and had a one-way intercom.

Analog-Signal-Of-Baby-Monitor

Due to the difficulties mentioned above, production of the Zenith Radio Nurse model ceased in 1938, and the remaining handful were purchased by museums for their "industrial design."

Baby monitors using the now-expired Zenith patent and analogue signals to transmit audio were primarily produced and sold by a small number of companies between 1937 and the 1960s. One major drawback of the hand-held analogue radios used by soldiers during World War II was that only one conversation could be going on at a time, on each channel. In this case, we have what is known as the simplex mode.

Since they were operating on lower frequency bands (27 MHz or 49 MHz), the troops had to tune their receivers and frequencies to various frequencies in order to overcome this challenge. They were hampered by the scarcity of usable frequencies. The video below provides an overview of 49 MHz band analogue baby monitors.

There was a time when analogue radios were the favoured method of communication since they could still send and receive information even when the received signal was weak or loud.

The Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum's Invention (1941)

Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum, a safe form of communication that has played a significant role in the development of baby monitors, was developed in the 1990s (FHSS). Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil, two Americans, came up with the idea for the protocol in 1941 and went on to patent it. It allowed the Allies to communicate and steer torpedoes without being detected or intercepted.

During transmission, signals were able to "hop" from one sub-frequency to another thanks to the technology's use of a spread spectrum sequence. Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum is the name of the corresponding spread spectrum technology (FHSS).

Some of the greatest baby monitors, like the Infant Optics, Hellobaby, Babysense video baby monitor, and Eufy Spaceview, now employ the FHSS because of its assurance of complete secrecy for all communications. You can find a list of the best FHSS-based baby monitors that are hack-proof in a different post on our site.

Notably, whereas FHSS technology was discovered in the 1940s, when the baby monitor industry was in its infancy, it wasn't deployed in baby monitors until the 1990s. They had to find digital signals to replace analogue ones and enable encryption before they could use those for secure communication.

Check out our post on What are the different types of baby monitors?

Baby Monitors' Evolution: The 1970s, 1980s, And 1990s

Baby Monitors In 1970s

Inventor Rafael Fernandez Aguado of Spain submitted a patent application in 1974. A piece of equipment to keep an eye on the intercom was patented. There was talk of it being a gadget for patient and child monitoring. The baby monitor would serve a dual purpose of listening in and talking back to parents. In contrast to the Zenith Radio Nurse, this baby monitor would let the caregiver or parent to speak to the infant. However, it resembled a telephone in form and function, and some would argue that it wasn't really a baby monitor at all.

1979: James K. Frost submitted an Australian and then a US patent application for a breath monitoring device.

The infant's respiration is constantly monitored, and an alarm is triggered if the baby stops breathing. A 'cot,' or infant crib, was outfitted with an electromagnetic transducer that was meant to be crushed with each inhale and exhale.

If breathing is regular, the transducer attached to the microphone will make a steady noise. In the event that respiration suddenly stopped, it did send an alarm.

The Rise Of Video Baby Monitors From The 2000s To The 2015s

The majority of baby monitors did not begin using wifi for signal transmission until the early 2000s. When it came to transmitting audio and video, analogue baby monitors employed an analogue signal while digital baby monitors began using 2.4 GHz Wifi, DECT, or FHSS technologies. Several of the top-rated and best-selling baby monitors are still equipped with FHSS technology, which deserves recognition here. Two of the safest baby monitors available today are the Infant Optics DXR 8 and the Eufy Spaceview, both of which employ the tried-and-true FHSS data transmission method.

The Development Of Video Baby Monitors – When Baby Monitors Become Popular

Baby monitors that included a camera became popular in the 1990s before the turn of the millennium. News outlets, including television, have aired multiple reports about nannies abusing children while their parents were out of town, as was detailed above in this article. Nannycams, which filmed the infant while the parents were out, made it possible to tell these tales. Baby monitors became a necessity that parents could no longer ignore. There was a huge surge in baby monitor sales in the 2010s, thanks in large part to the widespread availability of wifi models at ever-lower rates.

Many worried parents acquired nanny cams after hearing these stories, and by the end of 1999, most Americans had at least heard of video baby monitors. In addition, wifi signal transmission became a major advancement in the 2000s. The expansion of baby monitors is mostly due to the prevalence of the internet. There are already around 30 patents for video baby monitors, the most majority of which aim to operate on the 2.4 GHz frequency used by wifi.

Several more patents for video baby monitors have also been submitted in the past two decades. There are certain baby monitors that have achieved phenomenal success on the market. Due in large part to its high-quality video and audio, Arlo Baby became one of the most popular wifi baby monitors in 2018. In recent years, video baby monitors have become increasingly compatible with other smart home devices like the Apple Homekit, Amazon Alexa, and the Google Home Hub. Some baby monitors, like Arlo and Nest, are on Google's approved list of cameras for use with the Google Home Hub.

Below is a selection of some of our favourite baby monitors: