Direction of arrival estimation in miniature device using a sound sensor array

Abstract

The application discloses direction of arrival estimation in a miniature device using a sound sensor array. The miniature device is a hearing device which includes a sound system for estimating the direction of arrival of acoustical signals emitted by one or more sound sources, wherein the system includes a sound sensor unit including an array of M sound receiving transducers, each providing an electric input signal; a sampling unit used for providing at least one sample of a surrounding sound field; and a processing unit comprising a model unit comprising a parametric model configured to be able to describe the sound field at the array as a function of the direction of arrival in a region surrounding and adjacent to the array, a model optimizing unit configured to optimize said model based on said sound samples, a cost optimizing unit configured to minimize a cost function of the model with respect to said direction of arrivals, and an estimating unit configured to estimate the direction of arrival based on said parametric model with the optimized parameters and the optimized cost function.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention generally relates to methods and systems for estimating the arrival of acoustic energy by means of arrays of sound sensitive sensors such as microphones, and more particularly to the application of such methods and systems in small electronic devices such as portable devices such as body worn devices such as hearing devices such as hearing aids. Background technique [0002] The biggest problem for the hearing impaired is still understanding speech in the presence of competing sound sources. This is caused by the loss of the ability to separate sound sources well enough to "tune / tune" to the currently most interesting signal. People with normal hearing have this ability to separate and tune, commonly referred to as the cocktail party effect. The brain and auditory system perform the aforementioned alignment by adjusting neural gain towards the sound source of interest. Recent brain imaging data suggest that typical neural gains ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] The discussion above shows that current beamforming techniques (even with binaural beamformers) do not achieve the necessary 10-12dB separation in reverberant conditions, thereby failing to re-establish the lost separation for the hearing impaired

Also, the beam is so wide (30+ degrees) that it's not really selective

Although other configurations with narrower beams exist, the sidelobes from the rear increase

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