Megan [Margaret] Watts Hughes (12 February 1842 – 29 October 1907) was a Welsh singer, songwriter, scientist and philanthropist. Her name appears as Margaret, the equivalent of the Welsh name Megan, in several publications. She was recognised by certain sources as the first to experiment with and observe the phenomenon of visualizing resonating sound using a device she invented called an "eidophone". The device or instrument naturally-produced geometric patterns from the resonation of her human voice. As a result, she referred to images as "Voice-Figures." Her work eventually resulted in a 1904 book titled The Eidophone; Voice Figures: Geometrical and Natural Forms Produced by Vibrations of the Human Voice, penned by Margaret Watts Hughes. She demonstrated the instrument for the Royal Society. Early life and musical career She was born Megan Watts in Dowlais, Glamorgan[shire], a historic county in southern Wales, to parents who had relocated from Pembrokeshire. Her father supervised the local cemetery. Following early success as a singer on the South Wales concert circuit, she obtained singing lessons from two leading Cardiff musicians, and in 1864 began studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where her teachers included Manuel García. However, she was forced to abandon her studies by ill-health. After marrying Hugh Lloyd Hughes in 1871, she became known as Mrs Watts Hughes and continued her musical career under that name. A deeply religious woman, she thought of Bethania Chapel as her spiritual home. At Mountford House in Barnsbury Square, Islington, she founded a "Home for Little Boys". In a newspaper article of 1898, composer Joseph Parry referred to Megan Watts Hughes as being one of "our greatest vocalists". She had accompanied Parry on a "musical tour" of North Wales after leaving the Royal Academy of Music, and once appeared with Jenny Lind, one of the greatest sopranos of the day (who had also been trained by García). Lind is supposed to have said of her: "I have never met anyone so related to me in the art of music. Two sisters only have I in the art-Madame Schumann and Mrs. Megan Watts-Hughes." Mrs Watts Hughes wrote the hymn-tune "Wilton Square" and a number of other songs. "Voice-figures" In 1885, while exercising her voice, she accidentally discovered what she called "voice-figures" or "voice-flowers", patterns created by the natural phenomenon of standing-wave resonance. She described the process which began with sand and/or lycopodium powder and later