Beam Selection for Body-Worn Audio Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communications devices with multiple-microphone arrays and adaptive beamforming struggle to differentiate between a user's voice and competing noise sources when they are similar in level, often focusing on incorrect directions and reducing the user's speech intelligibility, requiring additional hardware like non-acoustic sensors to determine the user's location.
Innovation Solution
An electronic device with a microphone array and processor that generates beams, detects its body-worn position, determines restricted directions, assigns weights to likelihood statistics based on this position, and generates an output audio stream to improve speech reception by focusing on the user's voice while attenuating noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If adaptive beamforming algorithms are used to steer the beam pattern toward desired sounds, then the device can attenuate unwanted ambient noise, but it may incorrectly focus on competing noise sources when they are similar in level to the user's voice, reducing speech intelligibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of beam selection by introducing a body-worn position detection mechanism. When the device detects it is being worn on the user's body, it restricts beam search to specific directional ranges (e.g., forward directions) rather than searching all directions. This parameter restriction prevents the system from selecting beams pointing toward competing noise sources behind or to the sides of the user, thereby maintaining voice identification accuracy while still providing noise attenuation.
2Measurement precision
If non-acoustic sensors or secondary microphones are added to determine user location, then the device can accurately differentiate user's voice from noise sources, but the cost, weight, size, and complexity of the device increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the existing microphone array perform multiple functions: it continues to capture audio for beamforming while also serving as the primary sensor for determining body-worn position. The processor analyzes the audio signals not only for beam selection but also to detect whether the device is being worn on the user's body based on characteristic audio patterns or device orientation data. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate non-acoustic sensors while maintaining user location detection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The device uses its own existing resources (microphone array and processor) to determine its body-worn position and select appropriate beams, rather than relying on external sensors. The system self-detects its operational state and self-adjusts its beam selection strategy accordingly, making the additional hardware unnecessary.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances speech reception by accurately identifying the user's voice direction and reducing noise interference without the need for extra hardware, ensuring clear communication in noisy environments.
Implementation Method 1
The electronic processor is configured to receive a plurality of audio signals from the microphone array and generate a plurality of beams based on the plurality of audio signals
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for beamforming audio signals received from a microphone array. One method includes receiving, with an electronic processor communicatively coupled to the microphone array, a plurality of audio signals from the microphone array. The method includes generating a plurality of beams based on the plurality of audio signals. The method includes detecting that an electronic device is in a body-worn position. The method includes, in response to the device being in the body-worn position, determining at least one restricted direction based on the body-worn position. The method includes generating, for each of the plurality of beams, a likelihood statistic. The method includes, for each of the beams, assigning a weight to the likelihood statistic based on the at least one restricted direction to generate a weighted likelihood statistic. The method includes generating an output audio stream from the plurality of beams based on the weighted likelihood statistic.