When you step up to the mic, it's not just amplifying you; it's also picking up sound from the front, back, sides, or from multiple directions at once. This is what's known as a microphone's polar ...

A microphone that picks up sound from the front of the unit. Also called a "unidirectional" mic, the term cardioid comes from "kardia," which means heart in Greek. The cardioid mic pattern loosely ...

I have reviewed lots of microphones for use with speech recognition software for Macworld: wired headsets, wireless headsets, a handheld microphone, and even a microphone that sits on your desk. If ...