Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Microphone

A microphone sometimes referred to as a mike (pronounced /mic) or—more recently—mic, is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, tape recorders, hearing aids, motion picture production, live and recorded audio engineering, in radio and television broadcasting and in computers for recording voice, VoIP, and for non-acoustic purposes such as ultrasonic checking.
A Neumann U87 condenser microphone

The most common design today uses a thin membrane which vibrates in response to sound pressure. This movement is subsequently translated into an electrical signal. Most microphones in use today for audio use electromagnetic induction (dynamic microphone), capacitance change (condenser microphone, pictured right), or piezoelectric generation to produce the signal from mechanical vibration.

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