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MicrophoneWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Microphone
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Amicrophone,colloquiallynicknamedmicormike(/mak/),[1]isa
transducerthatconvertssoundintoanelectricalsignal.
Microphonesareusedinmanyapplicationssuchastelephones,hearing
aids,publicaddresssystemsforconcerthallsandpublicevents,motion
pictureproduction,liveandrecordedaudioengineering,twowayradios,
megaphones,radioandtelevisionbroadcasting,andincomputersfor
recordingvoice,speechrecognition,VoIP,andfornonacousticpurposes
suchasultrasoniccheckingorknocksensors.
Mostmicrophonestodayuseelectromagneticinduction(dynamic
microphones),capacitancechange(condensermicrophones)or
piezoelectricity(piezoelectricmicrophones)toproduceanelectricalsignal
fromairpressurevariations.Microphonestypicallyneedtobeconnectedto
apreamplifierbeforethesignalcanberecordedorreproduced.

Contents
1 History
2 Components
3 Varieties
3.1 Condensermicrophone
3.1.1 Electretcondensermicrophone
3.2 Dynamicmicrophone
3.3 Ribbonmicrophone
3.4 Carbonmicrophone
3.5 Piezoelectricmicrophone
3.6 Fiberopticmicrophone
3.7 Lasermicrophone
3.8 Liquidmicrophone
3.9 MEMSmicrophone
3.10 Speakersasmicrophones
4 Capsuledesignanddirectivity
5 Microphonepolarpatterns
5.1 Omnidirectional
5.2 Unidirectional
5.2.1 Cardioid,Hypercardioid,Supercardioid
5.3 Bidirectional
5.4 Shotgunandparabolicmicrophones
5.5 Boundaryor"PZM"
6 Applicationspecificdesigns
7 Powering
8 Connectors
8.1 Impedancematching
8.2 Digitalmicrophoneinterface
9 Measurementsandspecifications
10 Measurementmicrophones
10.1 Microphonecalibration
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone

AnAKGC214condensermicrophone
withshockmount

ASennheiserdynamicmicrophone

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MicrophoneWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

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12
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10.1 Microphonecalibration
Microphonearrayandarraymicrophones
Microphonewindscreens
Seealso
References
Externallinks

History
Inordertospeaktolargergroupsofpeople,therewasadesiretoincreasethevolumeofthespokenword.The
earliestknowndevicetoachievethisdatesto600BCwiththeinventionofmaskswithspeciallydesignedmouth
openingsthatacousticallyaugmentedthevoiceinamphitheatres.[2]In1665,theEnglishphysicistRobertHooke
wasthefirsttoexperimentwithamediumotherthanairwiththeinventionofthe"lovers'telephone"madeof
stretchedwirewithacupattachedateachend.[3]
GermaninventorJohannPhilippReisdesignedanearlysoundtransmitterthatusedametallicstripattachedtoa
vibratingmembranethatwouldproduceintermittentcurrent.Betterresultswereachievedwiththe"liquid
transmitter"designinScottishAmericanAlexanderGrahamBell'stelephoneof1876thediaphragmwas
attachedtoaconductiverodinanacidsolution.[4]Thesesystems,however,gaveaverypoorsoundquality.
Thefirstmicrophonethatenabledpropervoicetelephonywasthe(loosecontact)
carbonmicrophone.ThiswasindependentlydevelopedbyDavidEdwardHughesin
EnglandandEmileBerlinerandThomasEdisonintheUS.AlthoughEdisonwas
awardedthefirstpatent(afteralonglegaldispute)inmid1877,Hugheshad
demonstratedhisworkingdeviceinfrontofmanywitnessessomeyearsearlier,and
mosthistorianscredithimwithitsinvention.[5][6][7][8]Thecarbonmicrophoneisthe
directprototypeoftoday'smicrophonesandwascriticalinthedevelopmentof
telephony,broadcastingandtherecordingindustries.[9]ThomasEdisonrefinedthe
carbonmicrophoneintohiscarbonbuttontransmitterof1886.[7][10]Thismicrophone
wasemployedatthefirsteverradiobroadcast,aperformanceattheNewYork
MetropolitanOperaHousein1910.[11][12]

JackBrowninterviewsHumphrey
BogartandLaurenBacallfor
broadcasttotroopsoverseasduring
WorldWarII.

DavidEdwardHughes
inventedacarbon
microphoneinthe1870s.

In1916,C.WenteofBellLabsdevelopedthe
nextbreakthroughwiththefirstcondenser
microphone.[13]In1923,thefirstpractical
movingcoilmicrophonewasbuilt."TheMarconiSkykes"or
"magnetophon",developedbyCaptainH.J.Round,wasthestandardfor
BBCstudiosinLondon.[14]Thiswasimprovedin1930byAlanBlumlein
andHerbertHolmanwhoreleasedtheHB1Aandwasthebeststandardof
theday.[15]

Alsoin1923,theribbonmicrophonewasintroduced,another
electromagnetictype,believedtohavebeendevelopedbyHarryF.Olson,
whoessentiallyreverseengineeredaribbonspeaker.[16]Overtheyears
thesemicrophonesweredevelopedbyseveralcompanies,mostnotably
RCAthatmadelargeadvancementsinpatterncontrol,togivethemicrophonedirectionality.Withtelevisionand
filmtechnologyboomingtherewasdemandforhighfidelitymicrophonesandgreaterdirectionality.ElectroVoice
respondedwiththeirAcademyAwardwinningshotgunmicrophonein1963.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone

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