A Parameter Study of Micromachined Seesaw Type Microphone

A seesaw type microphone has been characterized to study its feasibility for sound source localization. A microphone system design is based on an unique eardrum structure of Ormia ochracea whose two ears are mechanically coupled. In the design of the microphone mimicking the fly, a torsional stiffness of a hinge and a damping constant of diaphragm receiving a sound wave are believed to be the major factors to determine its directivity. To study their effect on the responses, the microphones are designed to have different levels of parameters, i.e. torsional hinge lengths and damping hole sizes. An experimental effort to analyze displacement signals from both sides of ears/diaphragm in microphone is made in this paper. Corresponding possible optimized structures of microphone to localize a sound source are suggested.