Systems and methods for capturing and interpreting audio

A system for capturing vibrations produced by an object, the system comprising:

• a ferromagnetic attraction element located on a surface of the object;
• a sensor located adjacent to but not touching the ferromagnetic attraction element or the surface of the object;
• a fixation element for fixing the sensor relative to the object and for transmitting vibrations from a fixation point on the object to a magnet adjacent the sensor;
• wherein the ferromagnetic attraction element perturbs a magnetic field of the magnet when vibrated;
• and
• wherein the magnet transmits vibrations from both the fixation point and the ferromagnetic attraction element to the first sensor.

A method for extracting audio from electrical signals within a data processing device, the method comprising:

• receiving, at the data processing device, a stream of audio input data;
• identifying, in the audio input data, at least one audio event;
• generating, by the data processing device, an n-dimensional representation of the audio event, wherein at least one of n dimensions of the n-dimensional representation corresponds to a timbre characteristic;
• classifying the audio event by comparing the timbre characteristic of the audio event to expected representations of a plurality of audio events.