November 22, 2011

How Does a Microphone Work?

Microphone was devised to intensify and amplify small sounds, production them more distinctly audible and comprehensible, thereby facilitating long distance communication. The first microphone was invented and industrialized to be used as a telephone voice transmitter. The word microphone is taken from two Greek words. They are micro, which means small, and phone, which means communication.

A microphone is a form of a transducer that changes sound from one form to another. It converts sound waves, existing as patterns of air pressure, into electric signals and at last back to sound waves straight through speakers. There are any techniques that can be employed in constructing a microphone but the most generally used technique is the magneto dynamic design.

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In a dynamic microphone, sound waves emitted from a source cause movements in a thin metallic diaphragm and an related coil of wire. A magnetic field is industrialized around the coil with the help of a magnet and as the coil moves within this field under the ensue of the sound waves, it produces an electric current. The estimate of current produced depends on the velocity of that motion, so it is velocity sensitive.

The dynamic microphones are of two different types, ribbon microphones and enthralling coil microphones. A ribbon microphone consists of a metal ribbon which is thin. And it is balanced in a magnetic field. The ribbon is related electrically to the yield of the microphone. The vibration of the ribbon within the magnetic field generates the electrical signal.

The enthralling coil microphone is something different. Here a small transported coil is placed inside the magnetic field. There is a diaphragm with which the coil is attached. Sounds enter there straight through a windscreen. And then the diaphragm is moved by the sound waves. With the vibration of the diaphragm, the coil moves and produces a current there straight through electromagnetic induction.

The other popular type of microphones is the condenser type. Here the diaphragm is mounted close to a rigid back plate and a battery is related to the plate, thereby creating an electric fee in the middle of them. The estimate of fee depends upon the voltage of the battery, the respective outside area of the diaphragm and the back plate, and on the distance in the middle of them. The distance in the middle of them changes in accordance with the movement of the diaphragm in response to the sound.

The sensitivity of a microphone depends on how much electric yield is produced by a given sound. Any microphone will furnish distortion. If it is overdriven by loud sounds such sustained overdriving can have the ensue of causing permanent distortion of the diaphragm. This affects the performance and ability of sound even at ordinary sound levels.

The distortion characteristic of the device is what determines its price, and it depends on the estimate of care taken in constructing and mounting the diaphragm.

What you have read is only a very straightforward explanation of how a microphone works. Though this is not whole facts about microphones it will give you some idea about the functioning of them.

How Does a Microphone Work?

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