javaandroidmicrophoneandroid-audiorecord

How to sample microphone on Android without recording to get live amplitude/level?

I was trying to get the amplitude level of a microphone on Android like so:

MediaRecorder recorder = new MediaRecorder();
recorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);

Timer timer = new Timer();
timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new RecorderTask(recorder), 0, 1000);

private class RecorderTask extends TimerTask {
    private MediaRecorder recorder;

    public RecorderTask(MediaRecorder recorder) {
        this.recorder = recorder;
    }

    public void run() {
        Log.v("MicInfoService", "amplitude: " + recorder.getMaxAmplitude());
    }
}

Unfortunately, this only returns 0 all the time.

It appears that for this to work I have to actually start recording. Is that correct?

If so, do I need to record for 500ms, get amplitude, stop recording and repeat?

Finally, do I have to record to a file? I do not need to save this audio file, can't I just get the current amplitude or highest amplitude since last call of the current live microphone input without recording?

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Solution

  • Yep you have to call recorder.start() first, and you must not forget to call recorder.stop() at the end too!

    See http://code.google.com/p/android-labs/source/browse/trunk/NoiseAlert/src/com/google/android/noisealert/ for an example application, you may want to take a look at SoundMeter.java and NoiseAlert.java