Optical readout for novel on-chip directional microphone technology

Soundskritt是一家总部位于蒙特利尔的初创公司，正在开发一种新型的微型芯片麦克风**，与目前的芯片麦克风技术相反，它不仅有可能测量声音的**幅度，而且还有可能测量声音的方向。与目前无法区分来自多个方向的声源的当前**微型麦克风相比，这种方向性是关键优势。**例如，如果集成到手机中，他们的技术可能只会拾取**手持手机的人的声音，而拒绝大多数环境背景噪声源。**他们的方法基于极轻和柔软的纤维，这些纤维随着**声压波的方向和幅度自由移动。对于声音记录，必须记录光纤的位移，并将其与**声波的幅度和方向相关联。光纤的极度柔软和低质量要求使其与传统的电动位移传感器**不兼容。例如，电应变仪**会增加光纤不可接受的重量，并导致位移精度不足。同样，**测量光纤和参考电极之间的电容是不现实的，因为光纤和参考电极之间的偏置**电压会产生比声波压力波产生的**大得多的寄生力。**因此，我们将致力于一种完全集成的片内光学位移读出技术。我们的目标**是在**项目结束前，为Soundskritt提供功能强大的电子板级概念验证技术。**

Soundskrit is a Montreal-based start-up company developing a new type of miniaturized on-chip microphone**which, as opposed to current on-chip microphones technologies, has the potential to measure not only the**amplitude of sound, but also its direction. Such directionality is key advantage compared to current**miniaturized microphone that cannot discriminate between sources of sound coming from multiple directions.**For example, if integrated inside a cell phone, their technology could potentially pick-up only the voice of the**person holding the phone while rejecting most ambient background noise sources.**Their approach is based on extremely light and soft fibers that move freely with the direction and amplitude of**acoustic pressure waves. For sound recording, displacement of the fiber must be recorded and correlated to**acoustic wave amplitude and direction. The extreme softness and low mass requirement of the fiber makes it**incompatible with conventional electrical displacement transducers. For example, electrical strain gauges**would add unacceptable weight to the fiber and allow insufficient displacement precision. Similarly,**measurement of electrical capacitance between the fiber and a reference electrode is unrealistic since a bias**voltage between the fiber and the reference would create a parasitic force much greater then the force resulting**from acoustic pressure waves.**We will consequently work on a fully integrated on-chip optical displacement read-out technique. Our goal will**be to provide Soundskrit with a functional electronic board level proof-of-concept technology by the end of the**project.**