MEMS Microphone
Definition
A Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems microphone: the capsule type used in virtually all modern smartphones and tablets. MEMS microphones have a characteristically flat midrange response with a defined roll-off below about 100 Hz and above 16 kHz, and a self-noise of 58 to 68 dB(A) EIN.
- Full name
- Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems microphone
- Common use
- Smartphones and tablets
- Roll-off
- Below ~100 Hz and above 16 kHz
- Self-noise
- 58 to 68 dB(A) EIN
Common questions
How does the frequency roll-off help identify a recording device?+
Because MEMS capsules share a broadly similar flat midrange with defined low- and high-frequency roll-offs, a spectrogram of an unknown recording can be compared against known device profiles to narrow down the likely capsule type, though it cannot pin down an exact model on roll-off shape alone.
Can self-noise level alone distinguish one smartphone model from another?+
Rarely. The 58 to 68 dB(A) EIN range covers most consumer MEMS capsules, so self-noise is used alongside frequency response, codec artifacts, and other acoustic markers rather than as a single distinguishing feature.
Related terms
- Double Compression
- The condition in which a video has been encoded at least twice through a lossy codec. The term is also used loosely...
- Psychoacoustic Masking Model
- The perceptual model used by lossy codecs such as MP3 and AAC to decide which frequency components can be discarded or coarsely...
- Quantisation Noise
- The distortion introduced when a continuous audio signal is rounded to discrete digital values. Lossy codecs concentrate quantisation noise at predictable frequency...
- Self-Noise (Noise Floor)
- The electrical noise inherent in a microphone circuit and capsule, measured in dB(A) equivalent input noise. Different microphone types have characteristic noise...
- Spectral Fingerprint
- The characteristic frequency response profile of a recording device, including roll-off curves, resonance peaks, and self-noise level. Comparing a recording's spectral fingerprint...