directional microphone

without parabolic reflector

Directional
microphones
such as used
by, say, out-
door-recording special-
ists and bird-watchers,
are invariably provided
with a conspicuous para-
bolic reflector. This cap-
tures an almost parallel
beam of sound waves
and so reduces the
angle of incidence of the
microphone. The same
action may be obtained
in a completely different
manner as described in
this article.
Design by G. Baars

Adi rectional micro phone mil)' be(00-
structed in seve ral wavs. The most fre-
quen tly enC<lunten.>d 'is that in which
the transducer is provided wit h a
mechanical aid tha t functions as a kind
of acous tic len s. This grea tly amplifies
the nar row beam of sounds in line
wit h the axis of the microphone and
usually takes the shape of a parabolic
reflect or.
The .mgle of incidence of the
sounds may abo be narrowed in a dif-
ferent way. In this, the sounds in line
wit h the of the microphone are not
amplified. but those ,11an angle to this
line art' attenuated in proportion to the
size of the to give the same effect.
In thi s (,1St', of course, the in-lint>
sounds need 10 be magnified by elec-
tronic mC,l11S, . 111,\1is, in an amplifier.
Ut: S I G",
CO :\ S I U F. RAT I O ;o.;S
In the present circuit ye t another
approach is used. which depends on
the phase of the incident sounds.
Speech sign.als of identical frequency
arrive .II the microphone with differ-
ent phases, depending on the location
of the source of the sounds. It is there-
fore possible 10select from the mass of
sounds arriving at the microphone just
one or a specific range that have the
same frequency bUI differ in phase.
This cannot be done with a single
microphone, however, tout with two
microphones the results are highly sal-
efactory. The two microphones are not
mou nted side by side, as would be
expected, but one behind the other, at
a specific distance, along t heir respec-
tire a\es as in Figure 1.
If the two microphones are sepa-
rated by a half-wavelengt h of the
wan It'd sound, the sounds will arrive
.1 1 the m with opposite phase. This is
because the microphone at the let t
receives the falling edge of the signa l
and the microphone at the right t he
rising edge. If these signals are ampli -
fied and then subtracted from one
62
Elekt or Elect ronics 10197
L-----<r. . i7OO7'f _U
-.....
BC551B I
,
e
...
Figure 2. The circuit
diagram of the re qui-
site electronics for
th e directional micro-
phone.
Figure 1. Basic setup
of the directional
microphone. A signal
is passed to the out-
put only If the sounds
picked up by one
microphone are out of
phase with those
picked up by the
other microphone,
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IC1 OP413
F1 :" ALt Y
The electronic circuits are best bui lt on
the printed -circuit board shown in Fig-
ure 3. which is ava ilable read v-made
throu gh our Readers Sen ice'... Con-
st ructing the board is a "'ery simple
aUdir, indeed.
The completed boa rd and the I/-V
batterv (a n be housed conve mentlv in
a smail case. Con nect the rmcrophoncs
10 the assembly via screened micro-
phone cable.
The final shape of the di rectional
microphone assembly depends largely
on the const ructor' .. prefer ences and
inge nui ty. II is important , however,
impe dance of many s01.:111 head-
phones. even with both ear-pieces in
series, is of the order of only It> oh m...
The operational amplifier used is a
low-noise Iypt' which has the added
ad vantage of needing only a low sup-
pl y ...olta ge. Also, it draws a current of
not more than i .5rnA This enables the
microphone to be powered by a singl",
9 V battery (dry or rechargeable).
Potenti al divider R
1
,,-R
17
arranges
the supply tines to the input amplifiers
at half the battery vonage. The supply
lines are well decocpled by capaci tors
Cu-Cis to make certain that the re is
no feedback of spunou.... lgnal .. along
these lines. This is pa rticularly impor-
tan t when the bauerv reaches the end
of its life (or cha rge: as the case may
be). and then ha.. a high internal
impedance. The supply lines to the
microphones are ad ditionally decoc -
pled t>y R1tr CI; .
C I RC l l l T U E S CRI I' T I O ,'\
The diagram in Figur e 2 make.... il clea r
that the circuit is not wry romphcated.
It consists of input amplifiers IC
1b
an d
lC
k
. differential amplifier ICld, and a
simple headphone amplifier cons!..ttng
of and TI and
The outputs of micro phones MIC
I
and are applied 10 IClt;. and IC
k
respectivel y. The microphones an'
electret types. whose supply voltage is
derived from t he supply lines via R]
and R
2
respectively. Since the sensitiv-
ity of these microphones. especially
inexpensi ve types, has a wide toler -
ance, preset PI is provided to mat ch
tha t of MIC] to
The RC networks associ ated wah
the input amplifiers limit the band-
width of the input as sta led earlier 10
Hz. Ne tworks Rt,-C", RI C; ,
R]-PI-C
1
, and form low-pass
sections, whereas R
3
-Cy R..-C... and
RyCs- are high-pol ....sect ions.
The amphfi ed signa ls are sub-
tracted from one another by differen-
tial amplifier IC
u
Here also, networks...
Rfl-RorC" and serve to keep the
bandwidth .. .Hhin the stated limits.
The level of the differen tial signa l
at the output of ICtJ may be adjusted
with The signal at the wiper of thi s
po tentiome ter is applied to t be input
of the simple headphone am plifit"r.
whi ch consists of and transis tors
T
I
and Again, networ k... Rn-C
II
and serve to lrt'p the band-
....idth within the earlier stated limits.
Resistor R
I5
ensures tha t output
current of the head phone amplifier is
kept wit hin certain limits to avoid
overloading of the battery at low out-
put impedances. Bear in mi nd that the
another in a diffe rential amplifier, the
output of that amplifier wi ll be a
strong signal at the wanted frequency,
Signals arriving at the microphones
in phase (that b. at an angle to the line
joining the axes of the microphone s)
one another in the differential
ampli fier and wi ll thus be strongly
attenuated.
A bonus of thi s approach is t hat
int erfering low-frequ ency ..tgna ls.
such as t raffic noi se or wind noise.
invariably arrive at t he micro phones
in phase and wi ll thus be greatly
attenuated.
It is obv ious that the distance
between the microphones is of crucial
importa nce for effe ctive directional
operation. After many experiments. a
dis tance of em was found to
be the bes t compromise. This distance
corresponds to the hall-wavelength of
a signa l at 850 Hz. which is at a con-
vement poi nt in the speech band of
::!lXJ--JOOO Hz. The elec tronic circu its
associated wit h Int.' microphone are
therefore des igned for select ive ampli-
fication of this l-and .
Elektor Electronics 10197
63 t\,
3
Figure 3. The printed-
circuit board for the
directional micro-
phone ;s available
ready-made.
Parts li st
Resi st or s:
R,. R
, 6
. R
u
.. 4.7 kO
R
z
. Ag. Al l . R, 3 .. 10 kO
A
3
. A.. .. 100 kO
R
s
.. 2.2 kH
R
7
.. 22kU
R
e
. R,O' A
l2
= 1 n
A,,, .. 560 c
R
l 5
.. 47 11
R
18
.. 220 n
Pl .. 4.7 k!l (5.0 kU) preset
P
z
.. 47 kn log poleollOl'neler
Capacttors
C
1
c, 0,0027 JJF
c, C.... 0.033 JJF
C
S
.. 0.68 JJF
Ca. Ct. e ' l " O.OO15pF
c; c, .. 0.0033 JJF
c,O .. 1 IJF. metallized polyester
(MKT). prtch 5 mm or 7.5 mm
e
l 2
.. 47 JlF. 25 Y. racllal
C
13
.. 10 /.I F. 63 V, reoer
C'4 ' C'5 '" O.lIJ F
CIS " 1000 IJF. 16 V. radl8.l
e n " l00J,lF. 10 V, radial
semiconduct or s:
1 , .. BC547B
1
2
" BCS57B
Integrated circuit .
Ie, .. OP413FP (Analog Devices)
Miscella neous'
Mle" .. elect ret micropllone
BTl '"' 9 V battery. dry or recharge-
able. With connecting Clips
PCB Order no 970079-1 (see Read-
ers Services elsewhere in uus
issue)
the circuit Is about x 1800 (65 dB).
The harmonic dis tortion is <0.1%
measured .11 a freque ncy of 750 Hz
with .1 load impedance of 600 n .
19;'\_1;'/1
that the microphon e, are fixed 20 em
4
AMPUllBr) V1 FREQ(Iiz)
apart on some sort of carrier.
....
Ap
SO \1 E
1....
I) .-\TA

The characteristic of the pass-band of

-a..
the di recti onal microphone a-sembly
...
is shown in Figure 4. As mentioned in
...
the text. the -3 d Bcut-off points are at
:nl Hz and (jUl>t below} J(XXJ Hz The
-12-00
centre frequency may be ass umed at -15.00
about 850 Hz.
-11.00
The overall voltage amplification of
21.00
-24.00
Figure 4. The pass -
.v..
band of the atrec- .....
tional microphone
-n...
covers the normal
.....
speech band.

,.. ,.

'"
97IlO1'f. lJ
Elektor Elect ronics 10197
65