Robust 3D Localization and Tracking of Sound Sources Using Beamforming and Particle Filtering
This provides incremental improvements for videoconferencing systems by enabling accurate tracking of multiple moving speakers in noisy environments.
The paper tackles robust 3D sound source localization and tracking using a microphone array, achieving direction accuracy better than one degree and distance accuracy within 10% RMS in videoconferencing contexts.
In this paper we present a new robust sound source localization and tracking method using an array of eight microphones (US patent pending) . The method uses a steered beamformer based on the reliability-weighted phase transform (RWPHAT) along with a particle filter-based tracking algorithm. The proposed system is able to estimate both the direction and the distance of the sources. In a videoconferencing context, the direction was estimated with an accuracy better than one degree while the distance was accurate within 10% RMS. Tracking of up to three simultaneous moving speakers is demonstrated in a noisy environment.