Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-131).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2005. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 93 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Miniature microphones have numerous applications but often exhibit poor performance which can be attributed to the challenges associated with capacitive detection at small size scales. Optical detection methods are able to overcome some of these challenges although miniaturized integration of these optical systems has not yet been demonstrated. An optical interferometric detection scheme is presented and is implemented using micro-scale optoelectronic devices which are used primarily in fiber optic data transmission. Using basic diffraction theory, a model is developed and used to optimize the micro-optical system within a 1mm3 volume. Both omnidirectional and directional optical microphone designs are presented and a modular packaging architecture is assembled in order to test these devices. Results from the 2mm diameter omnidirectional optical microphone structure demonstrate a 26dBA noise floor. The biomimetic directional optical microphone, which has an equivalent port spacing of 1mm, demonstrates a noise floor of 34dBA. Additionally, these results demonstrate an array of two biomimetic directional optical microphones located on the same silicon chip and separated by less than 5mm. These results confirm the micro-optical detection method as an alternative to capacitive detection especially for miniaturized microphone applications and suggest that this method in its modular packaging architecture is competitive with industry leading measurement microphones.

The diploma thesis deals with the design of hybrid microphone preamplifier with stepless choice of amplification technology between active part using tube or semiconductor elements. Before the design, the basic physical relations of electroacoustics were described. Problems of connection of audio devices, their voltage and noise conditions. At last technical properties of microphones and tubes were described. In the practical part, the overall structure of the hybrid preamplifier is designed and the goals of the thesis are set. This is followed by a detailed design of the preamplifiers. From input circuits through individual amplifier stages of the semiconductor and tube sections to the output of the device. Much of the circuit was tested by software simulations. Based on the results obtained in the design of the signal part of the preamplifier, the power circuits were designed. Finaly the preamplifier functionality was verified by measurement on the Audio Analyzer.

Low noise, directional microphones are critical for hearing aid applications. This thesis is focused on further development of a biomimetic micromachined directional microphone based on the ear structure of the Ormia Ochracea, a parasitic fly able to locate sound sources in the audio frequency range with high accuracy. The development efforts have been on implementing a version of the microphone for a behind the ear (BTE) package while improving the overall optical efficiency and noise level, demonstrating pulsed laser operation for reduced power consumption, and electrostatic control of the microphone diaphragm position for stable operation over a long time. The new packaging method for the microphone addressed the need for tighter placement tolerances along with a redesigned diaphragm and integration of a microscale optical lens array to improve the optical efficiency of the device. The completed packages were characterized for sensitivity improvement and optical efficiency. The overall optical efficiency was significantly increased from less than 1% to the photo diode array collecting 50% of the emitted optical power from the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL). This, coupled with the new diaphragm design, improved the acoustic performance of the microphones. Consequently, the noise levels recorded on the devices were about 31 dBA SPL, more than 15dB better than conventional directional microphones with nearly 10 times larger port spacing. Since the application for this technology is hearing aids, the power consumed by the working device needs to be at an acceptable level. The majority of the power used by the microphone is from continuously operating the VCSEL with 2mW optical output power. To reduce this power requirement, it was suggested to pulse the VCSEL at high enough frequency with low duty cycle so that the acoustic signals can be recovered from its samples. In this study, it was found that the VCSEL can be pulsed with little to no degradation in signal to noise ratio as long as the thermal mechanical noise dominated the noise spectrum. The results also indicated that a pulse train with a duty cycle of around 20% can be used without a major loss of performance in the device, meaning the device can effectively run at 1/5 of its original power under pulsed operation mode. Finally, a control technique to overcome some inherent problems of the microphone was demonstrated. Since the optical sensitivity of the microphone depends on the gap between the diaphragm grating and the integrated mirror, it is important to keep that bias gap constant during long term operation against environmental variations and charging effects. Using a simple electrostatic bias controller scheme, the sensitivity variation of the microphone was improved by a factor of 7.68 with bias control. Overall, this thesis has addressed several important aspects of a micromachined biomimetic microphone and further demonstrated its feasibility for hearing aid applications.

Thesis (M.S.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: Speech; noise reduction; spectral subtraction; hands-free; beamforming. Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-189).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by Russell M. Mersereau. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 276-285).

A microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) optical microphone that measures the interference of light resulting from its passage through a diffraction grating and reflection from a vibrating diaphragm (JASA, v. 122, no. 4, 2007) is described. In the present embodiment, both the diffractive optical element and the sensing diaphragm are micromachined on silicon. Additional system components include a semiconductor laser, photodiodes, and required readout electronics. Advantages of this optical detection technique have been demonstrated with both omni-directional microphones and biologically inspired directional microphones. In efforts to commercialize this technology for hearing-aids and other applications, a goal has been set to achieve a microphone contained in a small surface mount package (occupying 2mm x 2mm x 1mm volume), with ultra-low noise (20 dBA), and broad frequency response (20Hz–20kHz). Such a microphone would be consistent in size with the smallest MEMS microphones available today, but would have noise performance characteristic of professional-audio microphones significantly larger in size and more expensive to produce. This paper will present several unique challenges in our effort to develop the first surface mount packaged optical MEMS microphone. The package must accommodate both optical and acoustical design considerations. Dynamic models used for simulating frequency response and noise spectra of fully packaged microphones are presented and compared with measurements performed on prototypes. / text