On this article I share my early impressions of The MEMS Microphone E-book by Mikko Suvanto. 21 years within the making, it is a reference guide with over 600 pages and I made a decision that I ought to write about it right here ASAP, as a result of I consider that the work deserves consideration and I am assured sufficient on the standard of the content material to advocate it. The MEMS Microphone E-book, “A sensible information to dependable high-quality sound capturing with miniature microphones” (ISBN 978-952-94-5660-4) is obtainable and my article particulars what it accommodates and who ought to learn it.
MEMS microphones are at this time embedded in all of the units that we’ve got realized to acknowledge as important – specifically throughout these final two years, whereas pressured to speak with the world by way of Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom. MEMS microphones are the invisible units that faithfully seize our voices in our notebooks, smartphones, and sensible audio system, enabling a high quality and degree of comfort that may be unattainable to think about earlier than 2005, when Knowles introduced its SiSonic MEMS microphone to the marketplace for use in cell telephones. Later in 2006, Akustica launched the primary single-chip digital-output MEMS microphone, designed to interchange electret condenser microphones (ECM), then already a 50-year-old know-how. Based in 2001, Akustica perfected acoustic system-on-chip options primarily based on the work of Dr. Ken Gabriel throughout his tenure at Carnegie Mellon College from 1992-1996.
I’m fairly sure that not many individuals anticipated to see MEMS microphones evolve to being utilized in measurement functions, for instance. And I additionally wager that nobody might see how rapidly the MEMS microphone panorama would evolve for the reason that product class emerged, significantly since 2010, with voice-enabled functions changing into so widespread.
In 2016, after practically 5 years, Mikko Suvanto left Akustica/Bosch to return to Finland and create his personal consulting enterprise, Mosomic (www.mosomic.com), the place he supplied help in MEMS and miniature ECM implementations for a number of firms. When COVID-19 hit, Mikko determined it was time to tackle a undertaking he at all times had in thoughts. Earlier he had began the formidable Mosomic MEMS Microphone Information video sequence, accessible on YouTube and sponsored by Infineon. Then he determined to make use of the time at dwelling to jot down and produce that content material, and ultimately flip all of it right into a guide. It took him 18 months to understand that imaginative and prescient – proving that some folks on the earth truly made good use of the time at dwelling!
“This guide took 21 years to make: the primary 18 years was a time of figuring issues out, listening to folks smarter than me, and taking notes,” Mikko wrote in his guide foreword. “Throughout my time coping with microphones – first within the footwear of a buyer shopping for elements, then as part of a company that manufactures microphones, and now as an unbiased specialist – I’ve encountered fairly a number of issues associated to miniature microphones. I’ve reached a reasonably good understanding of what they’re, how they work, and the way they need to be used.”
And he used that amassed information to fill the pages of his guide. The MEMS Microphone E-book, “A sensible information to dependable high-quality sound capturing with miniature microphones” (ISBN 978-952-94-5660-4) was launched simply final week, and Mikko kindly despatched me a duplicate for evaluation. I’ve spent fairly a number of hours this week exploring this fascinating work (which I hope I will ultimately take with me to learn throughout some imaginary holidays). I made a decision that I ought to write about it right here ASAP, as a result of I consider that the work deserves consideration and I am assured sufficient on the standard of the content material to advocate it to The Audio Voice readers. Mike Klasco additionally acquired his personal copy, is aware of much more than I do about MEMS microphones, and will probably be writing a extra technical evaluation for audioXpress and the AES Journal.
After I began exploring the entire guide, at first I used to be barely shocked by its construction, with particular person paragraphs and many bullets factors. It’s like the entire guide was written as an expanded index. This may be extraordinarily sensible in a reference guide – which is strictly what this guide is. As {a magazine} editor, this sort of construction is the alternative of what we ask from authors: Use your individual “voice,” inform a narrative, do not use bullet factors. In reality, bullet factors are solely allowed as soon as per article, both to introduce speaking factors or for the abstract. And I at all times advocate that authors convert these bullet factors in one other paragraph.
This guide, is the alternative of that. It follows an encyclopedic construction, with numerous entries and an infinite variety of expansions for every entry. Which in a method makes it simpler to discover, additionally as a result of there’s a superb index and 10 pages of desk of contents. I confess I used to be not acquainted with the Mosomic MEMS YouTube movies (journal editors aren’t allowed to spend time on YouTube…). Nonetheless, after studying the guide’s foreword notes I felt the necessity to discover the MEMS Microphone YouTube sequence (29 lengthy episodes – however all well-structured and edited), and out of the blue I might perceive the guide construction significantly better. The movies are the rehearsal. The guide is the definitive reference.
I requested Mikko to substantiate my impressions of that course of and he shared the next: “Sure, if I had began the undertaking as a guide, not a video sequence, the construction would most likely have been considerably totally different. After I began making the movies, I had no intention of writing a guide. After I had nearly completed and launched the movies, COVID hit, agreed large (for me) initiatives received shelved by prospects, and out of the blue I had time on my arms. So I assumed I’d flip the scripts of the movies right into a guide, simply clear the textual content a bit, add drawings, and be achieved with it. This was in ~March-April 2020 and I assumed it will take a number of months to do that. Then, the undertaking took on a lifetime of its personal: I began including a bit data right here and there, and at some point I noticed that my objective was now to make a complete guide on MEMS microphones and sound capturing with miniature microphones. So I included just about every thing I do know that’s value realizing. I additionally educated myself on a number of additional topics that I wasn’t that acquainted with, to have the ability to write a bit about them too. Easy directional arrays are an excellent instance of that. In consequence, there may be much more content material within the guide than within the movies. I simply checked: the video scripts (that I repeated within the movies principally phrase for phrase) dumped into one file was 77,784 phrases; the ultimate guide is 194,570. That could be a issue of two.5. In different phrases, my Corona undertaking received a bit out of hand…”
Nicely, contemplating the outcome, I’d say it was an important accomplishment. The guide is definitely enlightening in some ways, and it contains as a lot technical data as anybody working with MEMS implementations would possibly want, whereas offering studying materials for anybody excited about sound seize and microphone know-how typically.
Extra essential, in simply two days of exploration, I might discover a number of data that I’ve by no means discovered elsewhere, detailing the variations between MEMS topologies, designs, interfaces, and strengths and weaknesses. Issues I had not discovered anyplace else. Mikko was very conscious of that. “Except for microphone producers’ software notes, there aren’t too many publicly accessible sources for sensible information about sound capturing with miniature microphones that educate you the way to make the most of them in real-life units,” he says within the guide.
With out entering into element, I’d simply point out that the MEMS Microphone E-book accommodates “each essential piece of data” the creator was capable of collect whereas working with main microphone suppliers, masking the interior construction of a miniature microphone, and all of the specifics of a MEMS microphone, in addition to what determines its efficiency and worth. That in itself makes this work invaluable.
Any trade skilled in search of pointers on the way to implement MEMS microphones to achieve the absolute best sound capturing efficiency will discover the basic information right here. From my private perspective I’ve drastically loved what I might learn in additional basic chapters masking the important thing traits that have an effect on sound seize with miniature microphones, evaluating MEMS microphones to conventional microphone applied sciences, wind noise mitigation, and even the fundamentals of directional microphone arrays.
With greater than 600 pages of content material, the MEMS Microphone E-book is a reference supply for elementary information about this know-how. I strongly advocate exploring all of the content material whereas it stays essentially the most full information on the subject. I can guarantee Mikko Suvanto that the worth of his work will stay due to his encyclopedic effort – even realizing that it is a fast-evolving discipline and that the know-how has already superior for the reason that guide file was despatched to the printer.
The one factor I could not discover on this guide and that I missed is an historic perspective and timeline of the know-how. I consider that may drastically profit the work and assist the reader situate the technical development. Notably as a result of, whereas most of us will probably be catching as much as take up all of the information contained on this guide, to be instantly concerned with the continued analysis and trade exercise is the one technique to absolutely perceive what stays pertinent and what’s going to quickly be of pure historic worth.
In all probability as a result of he understands this higher than anybody else, and feels the necessity to stay updated on the know-how, since January 2022, Mikko Suvanto returned to Bosch Sensortec as Senior Product Supervisor. “So, it simply so occurs that I received an actual job. I’m nonetheless considering the haircut. Typically, alternatives that can not be handed current themselves. That is a type of events, identical to Akustica was 10 years in the past,” he wrote just lately on LinkedIn.
Order right here: The MEMS Microphone E-book at Report Store X
This text was initially revealed in The Audio Voice e-newsletter (#364), February 17, 2022.
