An EM Algorithm for Localizing Multiple Sound: Sources in Reverberant Environments

We present a method for localizing and separating sound sources in stereo recordings that is robust to reverberation and does not make any assumptions about the source statistics. The method consists of a probabilistic model of binaural multisource recordings and an expectation maximization algorithm for finding the maximum likelihood parameters of that model. These parameters include distributions over delays and assignments of time-frequency regions to sources. We evaluate this method against two comparable algorithms on simulations of simultaneous speech from two or three sources. Our method outperforms the others in anechoic conditions and performs as well as the better of the two in the presence of reverberation

Optimization of Interaural Intensity Difference based Binaural Sonar Sensing System for Object Detection

Interaural Intensity Difference (IID) in binaural sonar systems is used for echolocation and obstacle sensing. In this article, we show by simulation the optimized system’s parameters in terms of frequency, sensor separation distance and the working range for an IID based binaural sonar sensing system. Our result shows that the best performances with a frequency range between 100 to 300 kHz and a separation distance, depending on the size of the microphone, in our case between 2 cm to 5 cm within the working range of 1 m. The approach developed in this paper could be useful for mobile localization and mapping, particularly in compact size mobile devices

Comparison between the Statistical cues in BSS techniques and Binaural cues in CASA approaches for reverberant speech separation

Reverberant speech source separation has been of great interest for over a decade, leading to two major approaches. One of them is based on statistical properties of the signals and mixing process known as blind source separation (BSS). The other approach named as computational auditory scene analysis (CASA) is inspired by human auditory system and exploits monaural and binaural cues. In this paper these two approaches are studied and compared in more depth

Nonlinear filtering for narrow-band time delay estimation

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-103).This thesis presents a method for improving passive acoustic tracking. A large family of acoustic tracking systems combine estimates of the time difference of arrival (TDoA) between pairs of spatially separated sensors - this work improves those estimates by independently tracking each TDoA using a Bayesian filter. This tracking is particularly useful for overcoming spatial aliasing, which results from tracking narrowband, high frequency sources. I develop a theoretical model for the evolution of each TDoA from a bound placed on the velocity of the target being tracked. This model enables an efficient form of exact marginalization. I then present simulation and experimental results demonstrating improved performance over a simpler nonlinear preprocessor and Kalman filtering, so long as this bound is chosen appropriately.by Mark M. Tobenkin.M.Eng

Proceedings of the 2018 Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) International Congress

Published proceedings of the 2018 Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) International Congress, hosted by York University, 27-30 May 2018

A probability model for interaural phase difference

In this paper, we derive a probability model for interaural phase differences at individual spectrogram points. Such a model can combine observations across arbitrary time and frequency regions in a structured way and does not make any assumptions about the characteristics of the sound sources. In experiments with speech from twenty speakers in simulated reverberant environments, this probabilistic method predicted the correct interaural delay of a signal more accurately than generalized cross-correlation methods

A Probability Model for Interaural Phase Difference

In this paper, we derive a probability model for interaural phase differences at individual spectrogram points. Such a model can combine observations across arbitrary time and frequency regions in a structured way and does not make any assumptions about the characteristics of the sound sources. In experiments with speech from twenty speakers in simulated reverberant environments, this probabilistic method predicted the correct interaural delay of a signal more accurately than generalized cross-correlation methods. 1