In essence, the implementation of electronic circuits converting sound waves to electrical signals is what audio electronics are all about. The devices that provide a means for this to happen are electronic audio devices. The electronic circuits used are designed specifically to attain particular signal operations to ensure alterations to the signal occur in its electrical form.

Further, audio signals can also be created synthetically by means of electric signals through electronic devices. Audio electronic devices were originally designed with an analog circuit until the digital era came into being. Besides, the digital signals can be manipulated by various software, much like audio devices could be, since they are all digital.

Digital and analog design formats are both used widely today. Let us look at some of the most common audio electronic devices used and the “science” behind each.

Amplifier
An amplifier (or an electronic amplifier) is also referred to as an “amp”. It is an audio device that is primarily used to upsurge the power of a signal. This electronic circuit makes use of electric power in order to increase the amplitude of the signal. What results is a proportionally larger amplitude signal at the output. Therefore, an amplifier is simply a circuit with a power gain higher than one.

Vehicle Audio Device
Have you ever wondered about the works behind your in-built audio entertainment system? Until the early 1950s, the vehicle audio device only consisted of an AM radio. The FM radio was introduced in 1952, tape, cassette, and CD players came into being in 1984. Blu-ray players, Bluetooth telephone, navigation systems, and smartphone controllers were introduced in the 2000s. In fact, a few buttons are enough to control the steering functionality of the steering wheel and various other voice commands.

Dynamic Range Compression
Popularly known as the DRC, this audio device basically handles all audio signal processing operations. It is used primarily to reduce the volume of loud audio sounds or increase the volume of hushed audio sounds. This involves reducing an audio signal dynamic range, and thus it was dubbed the Dynamic Range Compression. This form of compression is used mostly during sound recording, broadcasting and sound reinforcement.

Loudspeaker
Classified as an “electroacoustic transducer”, a loudspeaker is essentially an audio device that converts electrical audio signals into sound. Don’t get carried away by the “loud” term, a loudspeaker is basically a speaker. The most commonly used speakers are the dynamic speaker which was invented in the year 125 by Edward W. Kellogg. A dynamic speaker works on the same principle as that of a dynamic microphone. Instead of producing an electrical signal from the sound (which is what a dynamic microphone does), a dynamic speaker produces sound from an electrical signal.

Headphones
This audio device is something everyone has but it was not quite common in the early days of telephone and radio. They are a pair of small, portable loudspeaker drivers that can be worn by a user. Like a loudspeaker, headphones are also electroacoustic transducers that convert electrical audio signals to sound. The boon of headphones allows a user to listen to a particular audio source privately. This is the opposite of a loudspeaker that produces sound in the open air. Colloquially, headphones are also referred to as “cans”.

Microphone
A microphone is a transducer, but unlike loudspeakers and headphones, it converts sound into an electrical signal. It is primarily used in hearing aids, telephones, recording audio engineering, sound recording, megaphones, radio and TV broadcasting, speech recognition systems, VoIP and various other purposes.