Do you think that as biotech advances we'll start to see microphone and speaker life forms modeled after the ear and vocal cords? I don't mean electrical devices that operate in the same way, I mean the microphone is a living, or at least organic entity?

Instead of plugging it in, you feed it. I really think this is the next step for audiophiles.

Any thoughts?

Absolutely. When nanotech becomes cheaper than traditional methods of manufacturing -- like when Shure can grow its own microphones, rather than import the plastic, etc. -- then we'll see it happening.

Hey, any chance of a puff of what you guys are smoking?

I can't wait until animal welfare services take me to court for forgetting to feed the microphones

The problem with a biological ear microphone is finding a way to sum the millions of microvolt-level neural outputs to a recognizable signal... much of audio perception is due to complex brain processes that 'decode' the signals that the ear sends it. The vibrations caused by air movement are transduced to electrical signals by displacement of tiny hair fibrils inside the cochlea that open up ion channels which create microvolt gradients, propagating activation in nerve cells.



But as for growing a pinna-ossicle-eardrum-cochlea, they could probably do that now, if they wanted to.



You want an ear? I can get you an ear. Hell, I can get you an ear by this afternoon, with earring.

gio wrote:The problem with a biological ear microphone is finding a way to sum the millions of microvolt-level neural outputs to a recognizable signal... much of audio perception is due to complex brain processes that 'decode' the signals that the ear sends it. The vibrations caused by air movement are transduced to electrical signals by displacement of tiny hair fibrils inside the cochlea that open up ion channels which create microvolt gradients, propagating activation in nerve cells.

It'd be processed the same way that our ear does. It's an animal specifically designed to hear things and communicate it to its speaker animal friend for replay. Or, I suppose hook up to a recorder so you can put some flange on it.

Somebody please tell me what the hell is going on here...

It's my opinion that this is going to be a lot harder than you're making it out to be. Like gio said the hard part is decoding everything like our brain does. That means these things would have to grow brains. That entails a lot of tricky stuff. What comapny is going to spend a hell of a lot of time and money on this idea? Not that I'm trashing it, but I don't think it'll fly in the business world.

I say no, but I hate biology. Lifeforms suck.