Patent ID: 8744090

Claim:
A ribbon microphone, comprising: an acoustic-electric converter including a pair of permanent magnets that form a parallel magnetic field and a diaphragm of metallic ribbon foil that is placed in the parallel magnetic field and vibrates in response to incoming sound waves; and a step-up transformer including a primary winding connected to the diaphragm and a secondary winding connected to an output connector, the output connector receiving a power plug of a phantom power supply when the microphone is in use, the step-up transformer increasing a voltage generated by the diaphragm to a predetermined voltage, the voltage then being output to the phantom power supply side through the output connector, wherein the ribbon microphone further comprising a piezoelectric element that generates electric power in response to an external impact on the acoustic-electric converter, one electrode of the piezoelectric element being connected to one lead of the secondary winding, another electrode of the piezoelectric element being connected to another lead of the secondary winding via a switching device, wherein the switching device breaks a path between said another electrode of the piezoelectric element and said another lead of the secondary winding so as to be non-conductive when the power plug is connected, and the switching device completes the path between said another electrode of the piezoelectric element and said another lead of the secondary winding so as to be conductive when the power plug is not connected.