Researchers design sensitive new microphone modeled on fly ear

Public release date: 31-May-2013
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Contact: Catherine Meyers
cmeyers@aip.org
301-209-3088
American Institute of Physics

Using the sensitive ears of a parasitic fly for inspiration, a group of researchers has created a new type of microphone that achieves better acoustical performance than what is currently available in hearing aids. The scientists will present their results at the 21st International Congress on Acoustics, held June 2-7 in Montreal.

Ronald Miles, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Binghamton University, studies the hearing of Ormia ochracea, a house fly-sized insect that is native to the southeast United States and Central America. Unlike most other flies, Ormia ochracea has eardrums that sense sound pressure, as do our ears, and they can hear "quite well," says Miles. The female flies use their "remarkable" directional hearing to locate singing male crickets, on which they deposit their larvae.

Previously, Miles and colleagues Daniel Robert and Ronald Hoy described the mechanism by which the fly achieves its directional hearing, despite its small size. Now Miles and his group have designed a new microphone inspired by the fly's ears.

The new design uses a microelectromechanical microphone with a 1 mm by 3 mm diaphragm that is designed to rotate about a central pivot in response to sound pressure gradients. The motion of the diaphragm is detected using optical sensors. To minimize the adverse effects of resonances on the response, Miles and his colleagues used a feedback system to achieve so-called active Q control.

"Q control basically is an electronic feedback control system to introduce electronic damping," Miles explains. "You don't want a microphone diaphragm to ring like a bell. It turns out that in order to achieve a very low noise floor which is the quietest sound that can be detected without the signal being buried in the microphone's noise it is important to minimize any passive damping in these sensors. If you do that, the diaphragm will resonate at its natural frequency. We are the first group to show that you can use this sort of electronic damping in a microphone without adversely affecting the noise floor of the microphone."

Indeed, the noise floor of the fly-inspired microphone is about 17 decibels lower than what can be achieved using a pair of low-noise hearing aid microphones to create a directional hearing aid. The new design could be used in applications ranging from hearing aids and cell phones to surveillance and acoustic noise control systems, Miles says, and "could easily be made as small as the fly's ear."

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The presentation 2aEA1, "A biologically inspired silicon differential microphone with active Q control and optical sensing," is in the morning session of Tuesday, June 4. Abstract: http://asa.aip.org/web2/asa/abstracts/search.jun13/asa394.html

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ICA 2013 MONTREAL

USEFUL LINKS:

Main meeting website: http://www.ica2013montreal.org/

Itinerary planner and technical program: http://acousticalsociety.org/meetings/ica-2013/

WORLD WIDE PRESS ROOM

ASA's World Wide Press Room will be updated with additional tips on dozens of newsworthy stories and with lay-language papers, which are 300-1200 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience and accompanied by photos, audio, and video.

PRESS REGISTRATION

We will grant free registration to credentialed journalists and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend, contact Jason Bardi (jbardi@aip.org, 240-535-4954), who can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.

This news release was prepared for the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world's leading journal on acoustics), Acoustics Today magazine, ECHOES newsletter, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. For more information about ASA, visit our website at http://www.acousticalsociety.org.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 31-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Catherine Meyers
cmeyers@aip.org
301-209-3088
American Institute of Physics

Using the sensitive ears of a parasitic fly for inspiration, a group of researchers has created a new type of microphone that achieves better acoustical performance than what is currently available in hearing aids. The scientists will present their results at the 21st International Congress on Acoustics, held June 2-7 in Montreal.

Ronald Miles, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Binghamton University, studies the hearing of Ormia ochracea, a house fly-sized insect that is native to the southeast United States and Central America. Unlike most other flies, Ormia ochracea has eardrums that sense sound pressure, as do our ears, and they can hear "quite well," says Miles. The female flies use their "remarkable" directional hearing to locate singing male crickets, on which they deposit their larvae.

Previously, Miles and colleagues Daniel Robert and Ronald Hoy described the mechanism by which the fly achieves its directional hearing, despite its small size. Now Miles and his group have designed a new microphone inspired by the fly's ears.

The new design uses a microelectromechanical microphone with a 1 mm by 3 mm diaphragm that is designed to rotate about a central pivot in response to sound pressure gradients. The motion of the diaphragm is detected using optical sensors. To minimize the adverse effects of resonances on the response, Miles and his colleagues used a feedback system to achieve so-called active Q control.

"Q control basically is an electronic feedback control system to introduce electronic damping," Miles explains. "You don't want a microphone diaphragm to ring like a bell. It turns out that in order to achieve a very low noise floor which is the quietest sound that can be detected without the signal being buried in the microphone's noise it is important to minimize any passive damping in these sensors. If you do that, the diaphragm will resonate at its natural frequency. We are the first group to show that you can use this sort of electronic damping in a microphone without adversely affecting the noise floor of the microphone."

Indeed, the noise floor of the fly-inspired microphone is about 17 decibels lower than what can be achieved using a pair of low-noise hearing aid microphones to create a directional hearing aid. The new design could be used in applications ranging from hearing aids and cell phones to surveillance and acoustic noise control systems, Miles says, and "could easily be made as small as the fly's ear."

###

The presentation 2aEA1, "A biologically inspired silicon differential microphone with active Q control and optical sensing," is in the morning session of Tuesday, June 4. Abstract: http://asa.aip.org/web2/asa/abstracts/search.jun13/asa394.html

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ICA 2013 MONTREAL

USEFUL LINKS:

Main meeting website: http://www.ica2013montreal.org/

Itinerary planner and technical program: http://acousticalsociety.org/meetings/ica-2013/

WORLD WIDE PRESS ROOM

ASA's World Wide Press Room will be updated with additional tips on dozens of newsworthy stories and with lay-language papers, which are 300-1200 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience and accompanied by photos, audio, and video.

PRESS REGISTRATION

We will grant free registration to credentialed journalists and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend, contact Jason Bardi (jbardi@aip.org, 240-535-4954), who can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.

This news release was prepared for the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world's leading journal on acoustics), Acoustics Today magazine, ECHOES newsletter, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. For more information about ASA, visit our website at http://www.acousticalsociety.org.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/aiop-rds053113.php

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