Testing and characterization of second-order differential microphones

The focus of this thesis is the testing and characterizing of directional microphones, designed based on the ear of the fly Ormia ochracea. The response of these microphones is modeled as a linear combination of the gradients of the sound field. A least squares approach is employed in order to determine the transfer functions between the response and these gradients. Knowledge of these complex transfer functions is crucial in understanding the nature and quality of the response of these microphones. Once determined, these transfer functions are used to simulate the plane wave response of differential microphones. This process is invaluable to acoustic research groups that do not have access to an anechoic chamber because the plane wave response is a standard by which acoustic devices are measured. This process was validated by comparing the true plane wave response of an industry standard differential microphone with its simulated plane wave response