Tap, tap, tap, khrrrrr, kechang. If we were to tell you that that’s the sound a typewriter makes, you might tell us that no, that’s the sound of a teller machine at a supermarket. This is because the concept of sound is so phonetically rooted to the ear that it’s difficult to place it unless we actually listen to a particular noise. But there are certain objects that have been consigned to the dustbins of history, meaning future generations can only guess the sounds that they would make. This is where an ongoing project called Conserve the Sound, started by German firm Film und Medienstiftung, steps in.

It’s a webpage that documents the noises that now-obsolete objects would create. These include old-school phones with a round dial that would whir back in place once you turned it for a number; and the scratchy sound that would emanate from cassettes when you’d use a pencil to adjust its tape. Log on and take a trip down memory lane.