This disclosure describes an apparatus and method of an embodiment of an invention that is improves Direction of Arrival (DOA) determinations. This embodiment of the apparatus includes a plurality of microphones coupled together as a microphone array used for beamforming, the plurality of microphones are positioned at predetermined locations and produce audio signals to be used to form a directional pickup pattern; a processor, memory, storage, and a power supply operably coupled to the microphone array, the processor configured to execute the following steps: processing an algorithm for a Direction of Arrival (DOA) determination; supplemental processing that improves the DOA processing.

Techniques are provided for audio-based detection and tracking of an acoustic source. A methodology implementing the techniques according to an embodiment includes generating acoustic signal spectra from signals provided by a microphone array, and performing beamforming on the acoustic signal spectra to generate beam signal spectra, using time-frequency masks to reduce noise. The method also includes detecting, by a deep neural network (DNN) classifier, an acoustic event, associated with the acoustic source, in the beam signal spectra. The DNN is trained on acoustic features associated with the acoustic event. The method further includes performing pattern extraction, in response to the detection, to identify time-frequency bins of the acoustic signal spectra that are associated with the acoustic event, and estimating a motion direction of the source relative to the array of microphones based on Doppler frequency shift of the acoustic event calculated from the time-frequency bins of the extracted pattern.

A wearable badge for an employee that records and transmits audio from client interactions with the professional, comprising two microphones and two microphone channels that focus one microphone on the speech of the employee and the other microphone on the speech of the customer, making diarizing easier. The wearable badge also comprises a module to determine whether or not the employee is maintaining an appropriate social distance with customers.

A wearable badge for an employee that records and transmits audio from client interactions with the professional, comprising two microphones and two microphone channels that focus one microphone on the speech of the employee and the other microphone on the speech of the customer, making diarizing easier. The wearable badge also comprises a module to determine whether or not the employee is maintaining an appropriate social distance with customers.

Sounds arriving from outside of a mobile body are collected by a microphone disposed inside the mobile body. A sound collecting apparatus according to the present disclosure is attached to the mobile body. The sound collecting apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a microphone that is directly or indirectly in contact with an outer face member, which is a member forming an outer face of the mobile body, from an inner side of the mobile body and collects sounds propagating through the outer face member. In a case where the microphone has directivity, the microphone is disposed in a direction in which sounds propagating from the outer face of the outer face member to the inner side are collected. The outer face member is, for example, glass.

Sounds arriving from outside of a mobile body are collected by a microphone disposed inside the mobile body. A sound collecting apparatus according to the present disclosure is attached to the mobile body. The sound collecting apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a microphone that is directly or indirectly in contact with an outer face member, which is a member forming an outer face of the mobile body, from an inner side of the mobile body and collects sounds propagating through the outer face member. In a case where the microphone has directivity, the microphone is disposed in a direction in which sounds propagating from the outer face of the outer face member to the inner side are collected. The outer face member is, for example, glass.

The systems, devices, and processes described herein may identify a beam of a voice-controlled device that is directed toward a reflective surface, such as a wall. The beams may be created by a beamformer. An acoustic echo canceller (AEC) may create filter coefficients for a reference sound. The filter coefficients may be analyzed to identify beams that include multiple peaks. The multiple peaks may indicate presence of one or more reflective surfaces. Using the amplitude and the time delay between the peaks, the device may determine that it is close to a reflective surface in a direction of the beam.

The systems, devices, and processes described herein may identify a beam of a voice-controlled device that is directed toward a reflective surface, such as a wall. The beams may be created by a beamformer. An acoustic echo canceller (AEC) may create filter coefficients for a reference sound. The filter coefficients may be analyzed to identify beams that include multiple peaks. The multiple peaks may indicate presence of one or more reflective surfaces. Using the amplitude and the time delay between the peaks, the device may determine that it is close to a reflective surface in a direction of the beam.

A system and method for improving the performance of a hands-free voice user interface system while minimizing the computational complexity without sacrificing performance. Specifically, when estimating the location of the talker for the purpose of steering a directional beam in the direction of the active talker. A hands-free voice user interface system requires a clean signal to be streamed to the cloud for recognition. One way to improve the speech signal is to estimate where the talker is and steer a beam in the direction of the active talker. To locate the talker to a localized position, a direction of arrival estimator (DOA) algorithm is used. DoA generally requires noise and echo free signal for optimal estimation, but it is computationally expensive to run audio pre-processing such as an acoustic echo cancellation for each microphone in microphone array. To reduce computational complexity, the system and method extract certain range of frequency and operate pre-processing only on the selected frequency. By properly selecting the frequency range, it does not degrade DoA accuracy while significantly reducing computational complexity.

A voice processing device includes plural microphones 22 disposed in a vehicle, a voice source direction determination portion 16 determining a direction of a voice source by handling a sound reception signal as a spherical wave in a case where the voice source serving as a source of a voice included in the sound reception signal obtained by each of the plural microphones is disposed at a near field, the voice source direction determination portion determining the direction of the voice source by handling the sound reception signal as a plane wave in a case where the voice source is disposed at the far field, and a beamforming processing portion 12 performing beamforming so as to suppress a sound arriving from a direction range other than a direction range including the direction of the voice source.