Ceramic, Crystal, and Ribbon Microphones

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Ceramic, Crystal, and Ribbon Microphones
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Ceramic Microphones

• Ceramic and crystal microphones are some of the
  earliest microphones devised. Two plates of
  crystal or ceramic are sandwiched between two
  pieces of foil. When sound waves hit this
  sandwich, the plates twist, creating voltage.
  This voltage is the electrical representation of
  the sound waves.
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• Ceramic mics generally reproduce lower quality
  audio, but they are inexpensive. The most common
  use of ceramic microphones is in telephone
  headsets.

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Ceramic Microphone
Crystal Microphone
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Ribbon Microphone

• The ribbon microphone works on the same principle
  as the dynamic microphone. It uses a thin metal
  ribbon suspended between the poles of a magnet to
  sense the sound wave. When the ribbon moves, it
  disturbs the magnetic field generated by the
  permanent magnet, and this induces a voltage in
  the ribbon. This voltage becomes the signal
  output

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. This design is not commonly found in modern
microphones, because the ribbon moves
mechanically adding unwanted noise to the signal.
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Ribbon Microphones
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Ribbon Microphones