Sound Source Orientation Estimation Based on an Orientation-Extended Beamformer

Hirofumi NAKAJIMA; Keiko KIKUCHI; Kazuhiro NAKADAI; Yutaka KANEDA

doi:10.1587/transfun.E97.A.1875

Sound Source Orientation Estimation Based on an Orientation-Extended Beamformer

Hirofumi NAKAJIMA, Keiko KIKUCHI, Kazuhiro NAKADAI, Yutaka KANEDA

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This paper proposes a sound source orientation estimation method that is suitable for a distributed microphone arrangement. The proposed method is based on orientation-extended beamforming (OEBF), which has four features: (a) robustness against reverberations, (b) robustness against noises, (c) free arrangements of microphones and (d) feasibility for real-time processing. In terms of (a) and (c), since OEBF is based on a general propagation model using transfer functions (TFs) that include all propagation phenomena such as reflections and diffractions, OEBF causes no model errors for the propagation phenomena, and is applicable to arbitrary microphone arrangements. Regarding (b), OEBF overcomes noise effects by incorporating three additional processes (Amplitude extraction, time-frequency mask and histogram integration) that are also proposed in this paper. As for (d), OEBF is executable in real-time basis as the execution process is the same as usual beamforming processes. A numerical experiment was performed to confirm the theoretical validity of OEBF. The results showed that OEBF was able to estimate sound source positions and orientations very precisely. Practical experiments were carried out using a 96-channel microphone array in real environments. The results indicated that OEBF worked properly even under reverberant and noisy environments and the averaged estimation error was given only 4°.

Publication: IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Fundamentals Vol.E97-A No.9 pp.1875-1883

Publication Date: 2014/09/01

Publicized

Online ISSN: 1745-1337

DOI: 10.1587/transfun.E97.A.1875

Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Spatial Acoustic Signal Processing and Applications)

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Authors

Hirofumi NAKAJIMA
  Kogakuin University
Keiko KIKUCHI
  Tokyo Denki University
Kazuhiro NAKADAI
  Honda Research Institute Japan, Ltd.
Yutaka KANEDA
  Tokyo Denki University

Keyword

sound source, orientation estimation, beamforming, microphone array

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Hirofumi NAKAJIMA, Keiko KIKUCHI, Kazuhiro NAKADAI, Yutaka KANEDA, "Sound Source Orientation Estimation Based on an Orientation-Extended Beamformer" in IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Fundamentals, vol. E97-A, no. 9, pp. 1875-1883, September 2014, doi: 10.1587/transfun.E97.A.1875.
Abstract: This paper proposes a sound source orientation estimation method that is suitable for a distributed microphone arrangement. The proposed method is based on orientation-extended beamforming (OEBF), which has four features: (a) robustness against reverberations, (b) robustness against noises, (c) free arrangements of microphones and (d) feasibility for real-time processing. In terms of (a) and (c), since OEBF is based on a general propagation model using transfer functions (TFs) that include all propagation phenomena such as reflections and diffractions, OEBF causes no model errors for the propagation phenomena, and is applicable to arbitrary microphone arrangements. Regarding (b), OEBF overcomes noise effects by incorporating three additional processes (Amplitude extraction, time-frequency mask and histogram integration) that are also proposed in this paper. As for (d), OEBF is executable in real-time basis as the execution process is the same as usual beamforming processes. A numerical experiment was performed to confirm the theoretical validity of OEBF. The results showed that OEBF was able to estimate sound source positions and orientations very precisely. Practical experiments were carried out using a 96-channel microphone array in real environments. The results indicated that OEBF worked properly even under reverberant and noisy environments and the averaged estimation error was given only 4°.
URL: https://global.ieice.org/en_transactions/fundamentals/10.1587/transfun.E97.A.1875/_p

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@ARTICLE{e97-a_9_1875,
author={Hirofumi NAKAJIMA, Keiko KIKUCHI, Kazuhiro NAKADAI, Yutaka KANEDA, },
journal={IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Fundamentals},
title={Sound Source Orientation Estimation Based on an Orientation-Extended Beamformer},
year={2014},
volume={E97-A},
number={9},
pages={1875-1883},
abstract={This paper proposes a sound source orientation estimation method that is suitable for a distributed microphone arrangement. The proposed method is based on orientation-extended beamforming (OEBF), which has four features: (a) robustness against reverberations, (b) robustness against noises, (c) free arrangements of microphones and (d) feasibility for real-time processing. In terms of (a) and (c), since OEBF is based on a general propagation model using transfer functions (TFs) that include all propagation phenomena such as reflections and diffractions, OEBF causes no model errors for the propagation phenomena, and is applicable to arbitrary microphone arrangements. Regarding (b), OEBF overcomes noise effects by incorporating three additional processes (Amplitude extraction, time-frequency mask and histogram integration) that are also proposed in this paper. As for (d), OEBF is executable in real-time basis as the execution process is the same as usual beamforming processes. A numerical experiment was performed to confirm the theoretical validity of OEBF. The results showed that OEBF was able to estimate sound source positions and orientations very precisely. Practical experiments were carried out using a 96-channel microphone array in real environments. The results indicated that OEBF worked properly even under reverberant and noisy environments and the averaged estimation error was given only 4°.},
keywords={},
doi={10.1587/transfun.E97.A.1875},
ISSN={1745-1337},
month={September},}

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TY - JOUR
TI - Sound Source Orientation Estimation Based on an Orientation-Extended Beamformer
T2 - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Fundamentals
SP - 1875
EP - 1883
AU - Hirofumi NAKAJIMA
AU - Keiko KIKUCHI
AU - Kazuhiro NAKADAI
AU - Yutaka KANEDA
PY - 2014
DO - 10.1587/transfun.E97.A.1875
JO - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Fundamentals
SN - 1745-1337
VL - E97-A
IS - 9
JA - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Fundamentals
Y1 - September 2014
AB - This paper proposes a sound source orientation estimation method that is suitable for a distributed microphone arrangement. The proposed method is based on orientation-extended beamforming (OEBF), which has four features: (a) robustness against reverberations, (b) robustness against noises, (c) free arrangements of microphones and (d) feasibility for real-time processing. In terms of (a) and (c), since OEBF is based on a general propagation model using transfer functions (TFs) that include all propagation phenomena such as reflections and diffractions, OEBF causes no model errors for the propagation phenomena, and is applicable to arbitrary microphone arrangements. Regarding (b), OEBF overcomes noise effects by incorporating three additional processes (Amplitude extraction, time-frequency mask and histogram integration) that are also proposed in this paper. As for (d), OEBF is executable in real-time basis as the execution process is the same as usual beamforming processes. A numerical experiment was performed to confirm the theoretical validity of OEBF. The results showed that OEBF was able to estimate sound source positions and orientations very precisely. Practical experiments were carried out using a 96-channel microphone array in real environments. The results indicated that OEBF worked properly even under reverberant and noisy environments and the averaged estimation error was given only 4°.
ER -