Time Delay Estimation Based Speaker Localization

Description

In applications such as video conferencing, automatic scene analysis, and security monitoring, there is a need to determine the positions of active talkers. A simple and effective technique for automatic speaker location is to use an array of spatially separated microphones, and two steps are involved as follows. First, a set of differences in arrival times of the acoustic source signal received at multiple pairs of microphones is measured. This time difference information is then employed to estimate the speaker position with the known microphone array geometry.In this research, the investigators will develop an accurate time difference estimation algorithm for speech signals received at a microphone array through exploring the speech properties. A reliable and efficient location method will then be devised based on the time difference measurements, subject to the constraints derived from the available a priori knowledge such as admissible speaker range and other cues.