Telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals. They are transmitted via cables to another telephone. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. He was a teacher for the deaf at Boston University. In researching ways to teach the deaf, he experimented with transmitting sound via electricity. As a result he was able to invent the telephone. Many individuals came across inventing the telephone but Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be awarded a patent for the electric telephone by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in March 1876.