Improved direct-path dominance test for speaker localization in reverberant environments

Lior Madmoni, Boaz Rafaely

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Speaker localization in real environments is a fundamental task for many audio signal processing applications. Many localization methods fail when the environment imposes challenging conditions, such as reverberation. Recently, a method for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of speakers in reverberant environments was developed, which utilizes spherical arrays. This method uses the direct-path dominance (DPD) test to select time-frequency bins that contain spatial information on the direct sound. In this work, it is shown that when the threshold of the DPD test is lowered to select more bins for the estimation process, it falsely identifies bins dominated by reverberant sound, reducing DOA estimation accuracy. In this paper, a new DPD test is developed, which evaluates the extent to which the measured plane-wave density can be represented by a single plane-wave. While being more computationally expensive than the original test, it is more robust to reverberation, and leads to an improved DOA estimation. The latter is demonstrated by simulations of a speaker in a reverberant room.

Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publication2018 26th European Signal Processing Conference, EUSIPCO 2018
Pages2424-2428
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9789082797015
DOIs
StatePublished - 29 Nov 2018
Event26th European Signal Processing Conference, EUSIPCO 2018 - Rome, Italy
Duration: 3 Sep 20187 Sep 2018

Publication series

NameEuropean Signal Processing Conference
Volume2018-September

Conference

Conference26th European Signal Processing Conference, EUSIPCO 2018
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityRome
Period3/09/187/09/18

Keywords

  • Reverberation
  • Speaker localization
  • Spherical arrays

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Signal Processing
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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