Microphone capsule, microphone arrangement with a plurality of microphone capsules and method for calibrating a microphone array

A method for calibrating a microphone array that comprises a plurality of microphone capsules, with steps of:

• exchanging at least one of said microphone capsules for a substitute microphone capsule, the substitute microphone capsule comprising a housing, an electrostatic transducer, an amplifier element and a memory element, wherein the amplifier element and the memory element are arranged on a circuit board within the housing,
• reading individual values from the memory element contained in the substitute microphone capsule by a circuit located outside the substitute microphone capsule, the values describing a transfer function of the respective microphone capsule;
• calculating a compensation function from the read values;
• and
• configuring at least one electronic filter for the substitute microphone capsule based on the calculated compensation function, the electronic filter being located outside the substitute microphone capsule, wherein the microphone array is being calibrated.

A microphone arrangement comprising:

• at least two individually replaceable microphone capsules interconnected to form a microphone array;
• a configuration unit comprising at least one processor;
• wherein the microphone capsules each comprise a housing and, within the housing, an electronic circuit comprising at least one electronic memory element having stored therein data relating to an individual frequency response or phase response of the respective microphone capsule, and wherein the microphone capsules each comprise a separate connector adapted for reading out the respective memory element;
• wherein the configuration unit comprises for each of the at least two microphone capsules a configurable correction filter;
• wherein the configuration unit is adapted for reading out the data stored in the memory element of at least one of the microphone capsules, generating a configuration signal from the read data and electronically configuring the corresponding configurable correction filter for the respective microphone capsule, thereby enabling said interconnecting the at least two microphone capsules to form the microphone array, wherein output signals of the configurable correction filters are delayed and superimposed in order to obtain a directivity of the microphone array.