Optical microphone for implantable hearing instrument

The microphone of claim 41, further comprising:

• a beam splitter, wherein said optical system is configured such that an output beam of a light source passes through said beam splitter to generate a first output beam and a second output beam, wherein said first output beam travels a path that includes the reflections off of the first and second components and said second output beam travels a second optical path bypassing interaction with the first and second components.

(canceled)

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The microphone of claim 41, further comprising an optical detector configured to receive at least a portion of the light reflected off of the first and second components and output a signal indicative of said received portion, wherein said output signal of said optical detector comprises:

• an output indicative of a Doppler shift applied to said received portion having traveled along an optical path including the reflections off of the first component and the second component.

The microphone of claim 41, further comprising an optical detector configured to receive at least a portion of the light reflected off of the first and second component and output a signal indicative of said received portion, wherein said output signal of said optical detector comprises:

• an output indicative of a diameter of said received portion.

(canceled)

The microphone of claim 41, wherein said first and second components have substantially equal resonant frequencies.

(canceled)

The microphone of claim 41, wherein said second component comprises a compliantly suspended proof mass.

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The method of claim 45, wherein the first surface is moving in response to one of acoustic forces, acceleration forces and a combination of said acoustic and acceleration forces and wherein said second surface is moving in response to said acceleration forces.

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The method of claim 45, further comprising:

• detecting a reference beam that has not interacted with at least one of the first or second surfaces.

The method of claim 45, further comprising detecting a parameter of said detected portion of said first light beam indicative of a diameter of the first light beam as detected.

The method of claim 45, wherein exposing the first surface to the first light beam entails reflecting the light beam off of an inside surface of a microphone diaphragm, the inside surface corresponding to the first surface.

The method of claim 43, wherein said vibration response comprises an acoustic response of a microphone diaphragm.

(canceled)

A method, comprising:

• exposing a first surface to a first light beam while the first surface moves due to energy resulting from at least sound;
• exposing a second surface to the first light beam while the second surface moves due to a second energy different from the first energy;
• detecting at least a portion of the first light beam after the first light beam has reflected off of the first surface and off of the second surface while the first and second surfaces are moving due to the respective energies.