An assembly housing for accepting an electroacoustical transducer having a rear face with terminal pins proceeding therefrom, contact surfaces thereon, and at least one sound admission opening, is formed by an acceptor plate which is disposed adjacent the rear face of the electroacoustical transducer, and a covering cap which is fitted over the radial edge of the acceptor plate. The acceptor plate has respective openings therein proceeding completely through the acceptor plate which respectively receive the terminal pins, and has blind holes therein which respectively receive springs in registration with the electrical contact surfaces of the electroacoustical transducer. The acceptor plate has a radially-proceeding sound admission channel therein, with one end in registration with the sound admission opening in the rear face of the transducer, and an opposite end in registration with a sound admission opening in the covering cap.

A microphone assembly comprises a microphone, a connector secured to the underside of the microphone. A gasket has a sound collecting hole and is secured on the upper surface of the microphone.

In a capacitor microphone system for directional applications, an array of backplates of microphone cells are formed on a printed circuit (PC) board. A continuous strip of diaphragm is employed to cover each backplate. The diaphragm is stretched to create a uniform tension along its length, contributing to the objective of achieving a uniform gain by each microphone cell. In addition, the diaphragm is separated from the backplates by a relatively large distance such that the percentage deviation from such a distance from cell to cell is relatively small, again contributing to the objective of gain uniformity.

An electret transducer array and fabrication technique are disclosed. The array comprises a foil having a layer of insulating material and a layer of metal in contact therewith. The layer of metal comprises one or more discrete areas of metal which define the active areas of one or more transducers in the array. Electrical leads are coupled to the discrete areas of metal. By means of these leads, electrical signals produced by each transducer in response to incident acoustic signals may be accessed. The areas of metal may be formed by selectively removing metal from the foil, or by selective metal deposition. The layer of insulating material is electrostatically charged. The electret transducer array further comprises a porous backplate of sintered metal. The backplate further comprises a rough surface in contact with the layer of insulating material. The backplate serves as a common electrode for transducers of the array. A second backplate is provided positioned adjacent to the metal layer of the foil forming an air gap therewith. The second backplate provides, among other things, shielding from stray electromagnetic fields.

Method and apparatus are disclosed for damping the resonance frequency in a microphone. The method and apparatus of the invention involve providing an elastomeric frame to support the backplate. The elastomeric frame forms a substantially air tight seal around the backplate. A hole is formed in the backplate and a cover having an opening therein is placed over the hole in the backplate. The frequency response of the microphone may then be controlled by precisely controlling the size, shape, and/or location of the opening in the cover overlaying the hole. The cover may also serve as an electrical contact to other components in the microphone.