CHAPTER 3 – MICROPHONES

The microphones (mic or mike in short) and the speakers are very common audio equipment. You see
them not only in public meetings and conferences, you come across them even when you use your
phone. The work of a microphone and a speaker are opposite of each other. A microphone converts
sound vibrations into electrical entity (voltage/current) while a speaker converts the voltage/ current
into sound vibrations by moving the diaphragm of the speaker and producing vibrations in the air.
Basically, a microphone has a diaphragm which moves when sound pressure pushes it. This movement
can be converted into proportional voltage using several possible transducers. Here, a transducer is a
device which receives electrical, mechanical or acoustic waves from one medium and converts them
into related waves for a similar or different medium. Thus, it can be said that a microphone (mic) is a
transducer that converts acoustical sound energy into electrical energy. Its basic function is therefore
to convert sound energy into electrical audio signals which can be used for further processing.

Microphone Classification based on Transducer Construction

According to transducer construction the following are the types of microphones:

Condenser Microphone:
The Capacitor Microphone operates on the principle of a change in the capacitance. When subjected
to incident sound waves. Figure gives the simplified representation of a condenser microphone. The
capacitor microphone consists of a thin light metal alloy diaphragm and a heavy metallic back plate.
These two acts as the plates of a parallel plate capacitor. The stretched diaphragm is of circular shape
and is clamped around its edge. The diaphragm is positioned in front of the back plate but is insulated
from it. A DC polarising potential is applied across the capacitor plates.

Figure 1 – Capacitor Microphone

The alternating pressure of incident sound waves on the diaphragm causes it to vibrate. This gives rise
to an alternating change in the capacitance of the microphone and causes an alternating voltage to
be developed across the microphone, provided the load resistor R is large enough to prevent
appreciable change in the charge on the microphone electrodes. The alternating voltage across the
microphone due to changing sound pressure is equal to the voltage across the load resistor R.
The capacitor microphone has a very low output as compared with the carbon microphone and
requires amplification. The output is relatively free from non-linear distortion and has a fairly uniform
response. The microphone has high and capacitive impedance. A very commonly employed capacitor
microphone is called the electret microphone and is employed in most of the commercially available
magnetic tape-recorders, because of its extremely small size. A junction field effect transistor is always
included in the electret microphone capsule to raise the signal level.

Dynamic Microphone:
A Dynamic Microphone works on the principle that if a conductor cuts a magnetic field, emf is induced
in it. Sound waves striking a diaphragm cause a relative movement between a magnetic field and a
conductor, there by inducing a voltage in the conductor. The figure shows the simplified construction
of a moving coil dynamic microphone.
An aluminium foil is used as a diaphragm, one side of which is exposed to sound waves. On the other
side of this diaphragm is attached a light weight former with a small coil wound over it. The coil is
situated in the magnetic field produced by a strong permanent magnet and is free to move in the
magnetic field.
Sound waves striking the
diaphragm cause it to vibrate,
giving to and fro-motion to the
coil across the magnetic lines of
field and inducing alternating
voltage in the coil. The AC signal
produced has a frequency equal
to the frequency of vibration of
the diaphragm. Amplitude of this
signal is proportional to the
extent of the diaphragm
vibrations and hence on the
intensity of sound waves. The
dynamic microphone has a flat
frequency response in the range
of about 60 Hz to 10 KHz. Figure 2 – Dynamic Microphone
It does not require any polarizing battery for its operation. It can be built to have a light weight, small
size and rugged construction at a comparatively low cost. Depending upon the intensity of sound
waves, the signal output of this microphone loes in the range of -30 to -80 dbm (0 dbm = 1 mW).
The moving coil microphone has very low impedance, that is, in the range of a few ohms only. A step-
up transformer is, therefore, always incorporated in the microphone casing to increase the impedance
level, thereby matching it to the input impedance of the circuit where it is used.

Ribbon Microphone:
Another important microphone that operates
on the principle of magnetic induction is the
velocity-ribbon microphone. Figure 3 shows
the constructional features of this microphone.
In the ribbon microphone, the magnet is
mounted below the pole pieces. The ribbon is
made of very thin and pure aluminium foil,
which is corrugated to give flexibility and
prevent curling. This thin metallic foil ribbon is
placed between two elongated pole-pieces.
The ribbon acts as the diaphragm as well as the
conductor. The ribbon has an extremely small
Figure 3 – Ribbon Microphone resistance (usually less than 1 ohm).
The pole-pieces are shaped to provide a cavity on each side of the ribbon. These cavities are broadly
resonant and ensure that the high frequency response is maintained.
The extremely low impedance ribbon necessities the use of a step-up transformer, similar to the
dynamic microphone and a transformer is, therefore, invariably incorporated in the microphone
housing.

Extra Reading for Microphone Classification based on Transducer Construction

Carbon Microphone: Carbon microphone is also known as a carbon button microphone (or sometimes
just a button microphone), use a capsule or button containing carbon granules pressed between two
metal plates. 

Piezoelectric Microphone Piezoelectric microphone uses the phenomenon of piezoelectricity—the
ability of some materials to produce a voltage when subjected to pressure—to convert vibrations into
an electrical signal. 

Fiber Optic Microphone: Fiber optic microphone converts acoustic waves into electrical signals by
sensing changes in light intensity, instead of sensing changes in capacitance or magnetic fields as with
conventional microphones. 

Laser Microphone: Laser microphones are often portrayed in movies as spy gadgets, because they can
be used to pick up sound at a distance from the microphone equipment. 

MEMS Microphone: MEMS (Micro Electrical-Mechanical System) microphone is also called a
microphone chip or silicon microphone. The pressure-sensitive diaphragm is etched directly into a
silicon chip by MEMS techniques, and is usually accompanied with integrated preamplifier.

Microphone Classification based on Polar Patterns

A microphone’s directionality or polar pattern indicates how sensitive it is to sounds arriving at
different angles about its central axis. Some microphone designs combine several principles in creating
the desired polar pattern. Generally, the pick-up pattern / polar pattern of microphones fall in
following three categories:
Omni Directional
An Omni directional (or non-directional) microphone’s
response is generally considered to be a perfect sphere in
three dimensions as shown in the figure 4. In the real world,
this is not the case. As with directional microphones, the
polar pattern for an “omnidirectional” microphone is a
function of frequency.

Figure 8 or Bi-Directional
“Figure 8” or bi-directional microphones as shown in figure
5 receive sound equally from both the front and back of the
element. Most ribbon microphones are of this pattern.
Figure 4 – Omni Directional

Unidirectional
A unidirectional microphone is sensitive to sounds from
only one direction. Figures 6 to 10 illustrates a number of
these patterns. Most common unidirectional microphone is
a cardioid microphone, so named because the sensitivity
pattern is a cardioid. A cardioid microphone is effectively a
superposition of an Omni directional and a ‘Figure 8’
microphone; for sound waves coming from the back, the
negative signal from the ‘Figure 8’ cancels the positive
signal from the omnidirectional element, whereas for
sound waves coming from the front, the two add to each
other. Figure 5 – Figure 8
A hyper-cardioid microphone as shown in figure 9, is similar, but with a slightly larger ‘Figure 8’
contribution leading to a tighter area of front sensitivity and a smaller lobe of rear sensitivity. A super-
cardioid microphone is similar to a hyper-cardioid, except there is more front pickup and less rear
pickup. While any pattern between omnidirectional and ‘Figure 8’ is possible by adjusting their mix,
common definitions state that a hyper cardioid is produced by combining them at a 3:1 ratio, while
super cardioid is produced with a 5:3 ratio Shotgun.

Shotgun microphones as shown in figure 10, are the most highly directional. They have small lobes of
sensitivity to the left, right, and rear but are significantly less sensitive to the side and rear than other
directional microphones. This results from placing the element at the back end of a tube with slots cut
along the side; wave cancellation eliminates much of the off-axis sound. Due to the narrowness of
their sensitivity area, shotgun microphones are commonly used on television and film sets, in
stadiums, and for field recording of wildlife etc.

Figure 6 – Sub Cardioid Figure 7 - Cardioid

Figure 8 – Super Cardioid Figure 9 – Hyper Cardioid

Figure 10 - Shotgun