<hardware, audio> Any electromechanical device designed to
convert sound into an electrical signal.
A microphone converts an acoustic waveform consisting of
alternating high and low air pressure travelling through the
air into a voltage. To do this it uses some kind of pressure
or movement sensor. The simplest kind of microphone is
actually very similar in construction to a loudspeaker.
The analogue electrical signal can be fed into a computer's
sound card where it is amplified and sampled to convert it
into a digital waveform for storage or transmission.
