What is the Maximum Operation Voltage of a Microphone?

The Maximum Operation Voltage of a microphone is the maximum amount of voltage that a microphone should be supplied. If more voltage is dropped across the microphone than the maximum operation voltage specified, the microphone can be damaged or destroyed, and rendered useless and nonfunctional; thus, it will no longer be useful for recording signals. Always check the datasheet for the microphone in use and check the maximum operation voltage specified. When desigining a microphone circuit, make sure that you use a voltage below this amount to keep from damaging the microphone. Normally, the voltage that is used is far below this amount. There is another specification on a datasheet usually called the Standard Operation Voltage; this is the normal amount of voltage that a microphone should receive in a circuit to operate with full functionality. This amount usually is substantially lower than the maximum operation voltage. So, for example, as you can see in the chart above which is the specifications for an omnidirectional electret microphone, a microphone may have a maximum operation voltage of 10V with a standard operation voltage of 2V. This means that that the maximum voltage that should be dropped across it is 10V but in a normal operating circuit it functions on 2V.

Just like maximum voltage specifications, a microphone also has maximum current specifications as well. If interested, please see What is the Maximum Current Consumption of a Microphone?