44659 2018 eng Article 154102, 1 4 15 112 article AIP Publishing 1 -- -- -- We designed micro-hollow cathode discharge prototypes under atmospheric pressure and investi-gated their acoustic characteristics. For the acoustic model of the discharge, we correlated the self-organisation effect of the current density distribution with the ideal model of an acoustic membrane. For validation of the obtained model, sound particle velocity spectroscopy was used to detect and analyse the acoustic emission experimentally. The results have shown a behaviour similar to the ideal acoustic membrane. Therefore, the acoustic excitation is decomposable into its eigenfrequencies and predictable. The model was unified utilising the gas exhaust velocity caused by the electrohydrodynamic force. The results may allow a contactless prediction of the current density distribution by measuring the acoustic emission or using the micro-discharge as a tunable acoustic source for specific applications as well. Applied Physics Letters 10.1063/1.5024459 0003-6951 26.04.2018 Daniel Kotschate Mate Gaal H. Kersten eng uncontrolled Micro hollow cathode discharge eng uncontrolled Atmospheric pressure plasma eng uncontrolled Gas discharges eng uncontrolled Plasma acoustics Analytische Chemie Verlagsliteratur Datei im Netzwerk der BAM verfügbar ("Closed Access")