Learn | Acoustical Engineer

Why Don’t My Noise-Canceling Headphones Block All Sounds?

Calling headphones noise-cancelling can be deceptive. While it is true that noise-cancelling headphones are capable of counteracting some background noises, they are not perfect for all types of noise. In this article we will discuss the inner workings, limitations, and potential tradeoffs of noise-cancelling headphone technology.

All Headphones are Noise Cancelling

Technically all headphones are noise cancelling on some level. Just as putting your hands over your ears blocks incoming sound, any headphone you put on, in, or over your ear will ...

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19
AUG
2019

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Megaphones: Heard above the Noise

Posted by: AcousticalEngineer

The megaphone is one of the oldest acoustical devices. People learned early that horn-shaped or cone-shaped tubes could be used to increase the audibility of the human voice. However, it took much longer for humanity to discover exactly how megaphones amplify sound.

A Quick History

Many early civilizations used “speaking horns.” Some Native American leaders used birch bark horns to communicate with large groups. In ancient Greece, actors wore masks with cone-like openings around the mouth which amplified their voices. Many inventors ...

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AUG
2019

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Preamplifiers: Do I Need One?

Posted by: AcousticalEngineer

What is a Preamp?

A preamplifier (preamp or just “pre” for short) is an electronic component used to condition signals from a microphone or pickup. The output signal from a microphone is generally weak and noisy. If you plugged a microphone directly into an audio interface, the sound would come out distorted and garbled. Not exactly the result you want from your audio system. That’s where preamps come in.

Preamplifiers boost the strength of a signal without significantly degrading its signal-to-noise ratio ...

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12
AUG
2019

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Dynamic Microphones: Are They Right for Me?

Posted by: AcousticalEngineer

Microphones are categorized by the way they transform sound energy into electrical energy. In acoustics terms, the process of changing energy from one type to another is called transduction. In this article we will explore the way a dynamic microphone transducer works and what that might mean for choosing the right microphone for your next project.

How Do They Work?

Some confusion about dynamic microphones exists because of the word dynamic. When dynamic is used to describe microphones, it is not referencing ...

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AUG
2019

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Condenser Microphones: Are They Right for Me?

Posted by: AcousticalEngineer

Microphones are a subset of a larger group of devices called transducers, which convert energy from one form to another. In this article, we will take a closer look at condenser microphones to learn how they change acoustic energy to electric energy.

How Do They Work?

You are probably most familiar with the housing of a microphone. It’s the hard outer casing part of the microphone that you can see. It often has a wire frame mesh to protect the inner workings ...

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5
AUG
2019

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The Quietest Place on Earth: The Anechoic Chamber

Posted by: AcousticalEngineer

There are few places on earth where you can experience complete darkness. These places include the depths of the ocean, caves, and mines. Even in these places, however, there is sound. Complete silence does not happen naturally. In order to have complete silence, you need a special type of room called an anechoic chamber.

The word anechoic (meaning “no echo”) was derived from Greek by acoustics expert Leo Beranek. Special measures must be considered when designing an echo-free room. As much ...

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AUG
2019

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Laser Hearing: The Cocktail Party Effect

Posted by: AcousticalEngineer

The cocktail party effect is the ability to listen selectively despite a noisy environment. The term comes from the observation that even in a crowded cocktail party room, a person can carry on a conversation with one person by “tuning in” to them and “tuning out” everything else.

If you think about it, it’s amazing that we can direct our focus to parse a desired noise source—say, a television—over the voice of the person sitting next to you. Of course, it ...

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JUL
2019

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Superpowers of the Ear: The Inner Ear

Posted by: AcousticalEngineer

While both the outer ear and middle ear (which were discussed previously) are amazing and complex, the inner ear is perhaps the most amazing and most complex. While the world of the outer ear and middle ear are full of air, the world of the inner ear is filled with watery fluids. So, are you ready to take a plunge into the aquatic world of the inner ear?

For the sake of simplicity today, we will divide the inner ...

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25
JUL
2019

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Superpowers of the Ear: The Middle Ear

Posted by: AcousticalEngineer

In a previous article we learned about the superpowers of the outer ear and promised we would tell you more about the middle ear, as well as that little drumhead at the end of your ear canal—the tympanic membrane.

The middle ear is a pocket of air bounded by the ear drum on the outer side and the cochlea on the inner side. The middle ear is home to the three smallest named bones in the human body: the malleus, ...

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22
JUL
2019

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Superpowers of the Ear: The Outer Ear

Posted by: AcousticalEngineer

You may have heard people talk about the ear in three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. But have you ever wondered why there are three parts in the first place? Why not just attach a nerve to the eardrum and call it good? The answers to these questions might surprise you.

While each part of the ear has an important function, in this post we are going to explore the superpowers of the outer ear.

The ...

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18
JUL
2019

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