Microphones: Their Importance on Smartphones

To make calls and to receive calls are the primary features of any mobile device, be it a “smart” phone or a “dumb” phone. While today’s smartphones are capable of doing a lot of things instantaneously and simultaneously, we buy them not just for the smart features they offer.

Although the world has shifted online and we now have so many social media platforms that helped connect us to one another, voice call still remains one of the basic and most secured way by which we can communicate with our friends, family, and loved ones.

Just as text messaging is becoming extinct, people rarely make calls anymore. With the rising of social platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, and Instagram, it is becoming less and less to meet smartphone users that still use the good ol’ voice call as their primary means of communication.

Nevertheless, all forms of voice communication on smartphones demand one thing as the basic requirement, a microphone (mic). Without a good functioning microphone, there will be difficulty when making calls on our mobile device. The microphone is what transmit our voice to the recipient at the other end.

The importance of the microphone cannot be exaggerated because without it online voice communication will not be possible. Today, there are smartphones that have more than two mics – this greatly helped enhance voice clarity in tough situations (i.e where there are lots of ambient noise).

Some smartphones have their mics positioned at the top and at the bottom of the screen to make sure that the voice of the user is fully captured during calls irrespective of how the device is held.

Furthermore, there are smartphones that have additional mics mounted to their back in addition to the ones positioned at the front for stereo-wide effects during conversation. Also, video chat and video conferencing apps like WhatsApp and Zoom rely not only on the camera for effective communication, but also on the mics of the device to pass the voice signal of the user to the recipient at the other end.

Apart from voice communications, the microphones on our smartphones are also of importance when we want to make audio recordings. Most smartphones have voice recorder pre-installed for audio recording and for taking voice note; some even let users capture their recordings in 3D. The clarity of sound recorded depend on the mics and how they are positioned on the device, and the software used. 

Microphones are essential communication tool just as speakers and cameras are – none of these can substitute the other because they all play different roles on our mobile device. Technology has made communication easier; voice clarity is no longer an issue, thanks to noise-cancelling mics. These special mics detect and absorb ambient noise from the surrounding for pristine conversations and recordings.

In conclusion, the specs and the type of microphones used are not often mentioned by smartphone manufacturers when launching their products, although they do remember to list out the specs of the camera and the speakers. Notwithstanding, our basic communication relied on it.