microphonic

[ mahy-kruh-fon-ik ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or in the nature of a microphone.
2. Electronics. tending to or capable of exhibiting microphonism.

microphonic

/ ˌmaɪkrəˈfɒnɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to microphones
2. (of valves or other electronic components) unusually sensitive to incident sound or mechanical shock

Word History and Origins

Origin of microphonic¹

First recorded in 1840–50; microphone + -ic

Example Sentences

One of the first microphonic balloon experiments — the top secret military experiment Project Mogul designed to detect sounds from Soviet atomic bomb tests in the late 1940s — crash-landed in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, leading to a cover-up that inspired UFO conspiracy theories to this day.

From Scientific American

The reverberations are almost microphonic with here and there a crescendo or a climax.

From Project Gutenberg

These results were published in 1878, but Hughes did much more work on the properties of such microphonic joints, of which he said nothing till many years afterwards.

From Project Gutenberg

Setting some source of the “sudden electric impulses” referred to above into operation in his house, he walked along the street carrying a telephone in circuit with a small battery and one of these microphonic joints, and found that the sounds remained audible in the telephone until he had traversed a distance of 500 yards.

From Project Gutenberg

French microphonic devices, flown in to monitor buildings for faint sounds of breathing, were useless in the din of bulldozers.

From Time Magazine Archive