《- Microphone Handbook》.pdf

Microphone Handbook Test and Measurement Microphones Introduction Pressure variations, whether in air, water or other mediums, which the human ear can detect, are considered sounds. Acoustics is the science or the study of sound. Sound can be generally pleasing to the ear, as in music, or undesirable, referred to as noise. The typical audible range of a healthy human ear is 20 to 20,000 Hz. A Sound Pressure Level (SPL) beyond the detectable frequencies of the human ear can also be very important to design engineers. Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) is concerned with the study of vibration and audible sounds. Vibrations represent a rapid linear motion of a particle or of an elastic solid about an equilibrium position, or fluctuation of pressure level. Harshness refers to the treatments of transient frequencies or shock. Usually treatments are employed to eliminate noise, but in some cases products are designed to magnify the sound and vibration at particular frequencies. The sound produced or received by a typical object, which may be above and below the frequencies that are detectable by the human ear, or amplitudes concerning its resonant frequencies, are important to designers, in order to characterize the items performance and longevity. Technology Fundamentals and Microphone Types When an object vibrates in the presence of air, the air molecules at the surface will begin to vibrate, which in turn vibrates the adjacent molecules next to them. This vibration will travel through the air as oscillating pressure at frequencies and amplitudes determined by the original sound source. The human eardrum transfers these pressure oscillations, or sound, into electrical signals that are interpreted by our brains as music, speech, noise, etc. Microphones are designed, like the human ear, to transform pressure oscillations into electrical signals, which can be recorded and analyzed to tell us information about the original source of vibration or the