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Reid, who works at the University of Strathclyde, has been working on creating miniature, bio-inspired microphones, based on the small and simple but surprisingly powerful hearing systems of insects. For instance, the desert locust has a 2mm membrane, but can hear at frequencies similar to humans.
“Insect ears are ideal templates for lowering energy and data transmission costs, reducing the size of the sensors, and removing data processing,” says Reid, who presented his work at the 184th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Chicago this week.
His team take inspiration from insects in several ways. They use 3D-printing to make custom materials that mimic insect membranes—without 3D-printing silicon-based attempts at bio-inspired microphones lack the flexibility and customisation needed.
“In images, our microphone looks like any other microphone. The mechanical element is a simple diaphragm, perhaps in a slightly unusual ellipsoid or rectangular shape,” Reid said. “The interesting bits are happening on the micro-scale, with small variations in thickness and porosity, and on the nanoscale, with variations in material properties such as the compliance and density of the material.”
While traditional microphones collect a range of information, Reid's microphones are designed to collect a specific signal, a streamlined process similar to how nerve endings detect and transmit signals. This means it can more efficiently discern certain triggers with lower energy consumption, and without the need for supervision.
This could make them ideal for applications in hazardous or hard to reach places, embedded within structures, or even inside the human body.
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