Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have conducted the first demonstration of a faster and more accurate way to calibrate certain kinds of microphones.
The technique, which uses lasers to measure the velocity at which a microphone’s diaphragm vibrates, performs well enough to overtake one of the main calibration methods used at NIST and throughout industry. Someday, a laser-based method could be commercialized to become a completely new way to do extremely sensitive, low-uncertainty calibrations of microphones in the field, in places such as factories and power plants. Potential users of such a commercial system could include organizations that monitor workplace or community noise levels or the condition of machinery via sound.