# How to connect a microphone to micro:bit?

**URL:** <https://forum.makecode.com/t/how-to-connect-a-microphone-to-micro-bit/21052>\
**Category:** micro:bit\
**Tags:** make, extension\
**Created:** [July 6, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/how-to-connect-a-microphone-to-micro-bit/21052 "2023-07-06T21:09:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![urassari](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.makecode.com/urassari/32/9535_2.png) [@urassari](https://forum.makecode.com/u/urassari)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/how-to-connect-a-microphone-to-micro-bit/21052/1 "2023-07-06T21:09:50Z")

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I have a microphone that i removed from a navigation device. I tried putting the wire on pin 1, but it didn’t work. is there a way that i could connect a microphone that is removed from a device into a micro:bit?

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**Author:** ![UnsignedArduino](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.makecode.com/unsignedarduino/32/592_2.png) [@UnsignedArduino](https://forum.makecode.com/u/UnsignedArduino)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/how-to-connect-a-microphone-to-micro-bit/21052/2 "2023-07-07T15:13:22Z")

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First off, the microphone may need external power, particularly if it has a built-in amplifier. If it has more than two pins, it most likely needs more power. If it only has two pins, you will have to wire up an amplifier so the voltage can be readable by the micro:bit. Check if you can find a datasheet or a wiring diagram for your microphone or something similar.

Next, you need to determine if the microphone has analog or digital output. If it’s analog, it’s simple as you just need to sample the (firstly amplified) signal _really quickly_ - like several tens of thousands of times a second. You won’t be able to do this in blocks/JavaScript or MicroPython by hand - you will need a library that does that in (most likely) C/C++. You also need to find out a way to store or transmit the samples to a computer.

If the microphone is digital, it might be I2S. (Typically a 3-pin protocol) I’m trying to look at the documentation but I can’t find anything about whether the micro:bit supports I2S.

There is also an extremely small chance that the whatever protocol the microphone uses to communicate is proprietary or undocumented, in which case you would to reverse-engineer it.

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**Author:** ![urassari](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.makecode.com/urassari/32/9535_2.png) [@urassari](https://forum.makecode.com/u/urassari)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 3:42pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/how-to-connect-a-microphone-to-micro-bit/21052/3 "2023-07-07T15:42:03Z")

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@UnsignedArduino i didn’t really understand any of the words you said, so, uh… i will tell you what the microphone looks like, and you will tell me what to do.  
It has 2 wires connected to it. and it is small, like… 1 mm in diameter. i guess.  
yeah, uh… tell me what to do. (say it in simple terms bc im lazy and im not that much smart.)

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**Author:** ![UnsignedArduino](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.makecode.com/unsignedarduino/32/592_2.png) [@UnsignedArduino](https://forum.makecode.com/u/UnsignedArduino)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/how-to-connect-a-microphone-to-micro-bit/21052/4 "2023-07-07T16:02:02Z")

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Ah, it’s just a regular electret microphone. You will need a way to amplify the signal, as it is too insignificant for the micro:bit to read. Search up how to amplify a microphone’s signal for, say, the Arduino as that is more common then the micro:bit - that should surely turn up results.

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**Author:** ![urassari](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.makecode.com/urassari/32/9535_2.png) [@urassari](https://forum.makecode.com/u/urassari)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/how-to-connect-a-microphone-to-micro-bit/21052/5 "2023-07-10T16:50:08Z")

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@UnsignedArduino it says that i need more arduino thingies in order to amplify it and i dont have those so uh, idk what to do now.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![UnsignedArduino](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.makecode.com/unsignedarduino/32/592_2.png) [@UnsignedArduino](https://forum.makecode.com/u/UnsignedArduino)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 9:25pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/how-to-connect-a-microphone-to-micro-bit/21052/6 "2023-07-10T21:25:00Z")

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Yea, so I don’t think you will be able to do anything with it. There is a small chance that your navigation device has an amp chip you can remove, but that will most likely be extremely difficult, especially without the proper tools.
