I am working on a project involving a wearable microphone that needs to pick a person's voice up from a distance - similar to a clip on microphone. I'd like to amplify this to a small speaker, and ideally make it so that the quieter someone is speaking, the louder the amplification.

I'd also therefore need to block out external sounds and have the least feedback possible from the circuit. I was thinking of starting with an Arduino based sound detector to switch the amplification of the sound based on how quiet someone is, however I am quite stuck with the audio electronics side of things and how to link them up to a microcontroller. I have experience with Arduino / programming, but when it comes to sound engineering my knowledge is very limited!

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on the best type of microphone or amplifier that can pick up from a distance and also if anyone can suggest any direction for how to integrate the interactivity of having the switching amplification based on the volume of the voice.

Thanks so much

 

Try googling "AGC circuit" , "VCA", "Voltage controlled amplifier". That should give you a taste of the sort of circuit usually used. Some circuits might provide, or lend themselves to, digital control.

 

Adafruit sells a microphone preamp that has a basic automatic volume control function built-in.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/1713

ak

 

Try googling "AGC circuit" , "VCA", "Voltage controlled amplifier". That should give you a taste of the sort of circuit usually used. Some circuits might provide, or lend themselves to, digital control.

Thanks so much for this, good point regarding digital control - it is a route I hadn't considered!

Adafruit sells a microphone preamp that has a basic automatic volume control function built-in.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/1713

ak

Thank you for the link, I have bought one of these on your recommendation and will be experimenting with it in the next few weeks