A diaphragm for electrostatic and electrodynamic microphones which has a distinct directional pattern comprises a taut diaphragm having a thickness of less than 8 microns and a diameter of 10 millimeters at most and which is made of an elastically extensible rubber base material which has a natural frequency of 1,200 Hz to 1,500 Hz at most. A diaphragm is particularly for microphones of the cardioid, supercardioid and hypercardioid and figure eight type.