Modeling and Experimental Study of a Biology-inspired Directional Microphone

In this paper, a novel design of a biology-inspired directional microphone is presented. This microphone consists of two clamped circular diaphragms, which are mechanically coupled by a connecting bridge that is pivoted at its center. A mechanics based model is constructed to determine the response of the proposed directional microphone to sound incident from an arbitrary direction. The simulation results show that the proposed biology-inspired miniature directional microphone provides a remarkable amplification of the time delay associated with the sound induced diaphragm responses. Different parameters such as coupling bridge stiffness and damping factor are studied to evaluate the performance of the directional microphone. Preliminary experimental results are presented and compared with model predictions. The analyses and results are expected to be helpful for realizing an optimal version of the biology-inspired miniature directional microphone with high accuracy and localization capability for various applications.