Guinness World Records has accepted Sorama’s record application for ‘World’s Largest Microphone Array’.
However, before the World record of 1,024 microphones in a single array is official, two independent experts have to confirm this.
The counting takes place on Thursday, August 21, 2014 at Sorama in Eindhoven.
On top of this Sorama will attempt to set the record even higher at 4,096 microphones in an array, which is more than four times the existing record held by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). We think it is worth a try.
Sorama sound camera
The Sorama array is part of a sound camera with 1,024 microphones called the Sorama CAM1k which is commercially available.
The applications of this system are practically endless. Virtually any object, product, or organism that radiates sound or vibrations can be visualized.
The images of the sound camera are similar to that of a thermal imaging camera. In highly detailed images, sound leaks can be located or the vibrational behavior of a device are made insightful up to the microsecond. Companies like Remeha, ASML, Philips, DAF, Damen, Bosch, Inalfa, FEI Company and many others are now working with this sound camera themselves. See sorama.eu for more information.
Current record
The current ‘World’s Largest Microphone Array’, “LOUD” (Large Acoustic Data array project) consists of 1,020 microphones in a single grid. This enables researchers to locate, follow and amplify individual voices in a crowd. The array was built by a team of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA) led by Professor Anant Agarwal, and became operational in January 2004.
See this link for more information about the previous record.
Record attempt and counting process
The record attempt by Sorama took place on Thursday, August 21, 2014 at Sorama in Eindhoven. The counting was done by two independent experts: Dr. Paul Zeijl, CTO and co-founder of Omniradar, a developer of radar systems on a chip, he is an expert in the field of high-frequency echolocation with radar arrays.
Dr. Piet Sommen is a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology, he is a specialist in signal processing and (acoustic) arrays.
And the rest is history …..