A system includes a plurality of acoustic sensor elements co-located with one another, each acoustic sensor element of the plurality of acoustic sensor elements being configured to generate a signal representative of sound incident upon the plurality of acoustic sensor elements, and a processor configured to determine data indicative of a location of a source of the sound based on the signals representative of the incident sound. The plurality of acoustic sensor elements include a directional acoustic sensor element configured to generate a signal representative of a directional component of the sound.

The problem of estimating the direction to one or more sound sources of interest relative to a user wearing a pair of hearing devices, e.g. hearing aids, is dealt with. A target signal is generated by a target signal source and transmitted through an acoustic channel to a microphone of a hearing system. Due to additive environmental noise, a noisy acoustic signal is received at the microphones of the hearing system. An essentially noise-free version of the target signal is transmitted to the hearing devices of the hearing system via a wireless connection. Each of the hearing devices comprises a signal processing unit comprising a sound propagation model of the acoustic propagation channel from the target sound source to the hearing device when worn by the user. The sound propagation model is configured to be used for estimating a direction-of-arrival of the target sound signal relative to the user.

A system includes a plurality of acoustic sensor elements co-located with one another, each acoustic sensor element of the plurality of acoustic sensor elements being configured to generate a signal representative of sound incident upon the plurality of acoustic sensor elements, and a processor configured to determine data indicative of a location of a source of the sound based on the signals representative of the incident sound. The plurality of acoustic sensor elements include a directional acoustic sensor element configured to generate a signal representative of a directional component of the sound.

A system and a method, as well as a positioning and wearable devices for determining the distance and position of devices communicating with each other over a medium, the system, are disclosed. At least one remote device comprises first processing unit, at least one transmitter functionally connected to the first processing unit and adapted to transmit signals over a medium, and at least one receiver functionally connected to the first processing unit and adapted to receive signals over said medium. At least two wearable devices, each comprising a second processing unit and wireless communication means capable of receiving and sending data signals over said medium, are also provided. The remote device is adapted to determine the distance to at least two wearable devices, to determine the direction to said at least two wearable devices based on at least two different bearings taken from said at least one remote device to each wearable device, to calculate the position of said at least two wearable devices relative to the remote device, and to communicate the position of at least one first wearable device to a second wearable device. The wearable devices are adapted to process the position of a first wearable device in their processing unit and to present to the user of a second wearable device an indication of direction and distance to said first wearable device.

The problem of estimating the direction to one or more sound sources of interest relative to a user wearing a pair of hearing devices, e.g. hearing aids, is dealt with. A target signal is generated by a target signal source and transmitted through an acoustic channel to a microphone of a hearing system. Due to additive environmental noise, a noisy acoustic signal is received at the microphones of the hearing system. An essentially noise-free version of the target signal is transmitted to the hearing devices of the hearing system via a wireless connection. Each of the hearing devices comprises a signal processing unit comprising a sound propagation model of the acoustic propagation channel from the target sound source to the hearing device when worn by the user. The sound propagation model is configured to be used for estimating a direction-of-arrival of the target sound signal relative to the user.

One embodiment provides a method of sound source enumeration and direction of arrival (DoA) estimation. The method, the method includes estimating, by an enumeration module, a number of sound sources associated with an acoustic signal. The estimating includes selecting a specific parametric model from a generalized model. The generalized model is related to a microphone array architecture used to capture the acoustic signal. The method further includes estimating, by a DoA module, a direction of arrival of each sound source of the number of sound sources based, at least in part, on the selected model. The estimating the number of sound sources and estimating the DoA of each sound source are performed using a Bayesian framework.

A method of processing audio signals acquired by at least one microphone to locate a sound source in a space having a wall. The method includes applying a time-frequency transform to the acquired signals and expressing a general complex velocity vector with a real part and an imaginary part in the frequency domain. The vector has a denominator with a component other than an omnidirectional component and characterizes a composition between: a first acoustic path, direct between the source and the microphone, represented by a first vector, and a second acoustic path resulting from a reflection on the wall and represented by a second vector. The second path has a delay relative to the direct path. A direction of the direct path, a distance from the source to the microphone, and/or a distance from the source to the wall is determined as a function of the delay and the vectors.

An apparatus including circuitry configured to: obtain two or more audio signals, wherein each audio signal is associated with a microphone array; obtain at least one value associated with an inter-channel difference based on the two or more audio signals; obtain at least one parameter value associated with the two or more audio signals; obtain at least one value associated with an inter-aural difference based at least on the at least one parameter value; generate at least two output audio signals by controlling inter-aural level differences of the generated at least two output audio signals based on the at least one value associated with the inter-channel difference and the at least one value associated with the inter-aural difference, such that sounds nearer to the microphone array are reproduced with a higher inter-aural difference at the at least two output audio signals.

Systems for determining the direction of acoustic waves are described herein. In one example, a system for determining the direction of an acoustic wave includes first and second resonator chambers fluidly connected via a channel. The first and second resonator chambers have a speaker configured to output sound based on signals produced from external transducers when detecting the acoustic wave that is acoustically separated from the first and second resonator chambers. The direction of the acoustic wave can be determined based on a comparison of the first acoustic amplitude sensed in the first resonator chamber and the second acoustic amplitude sensed in the second resonator chamber when the speakers output sound.