3D Sound Source Positioning Using Midpoint Clustering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sound source localization technologies using microphone arrays struggle to accurately estimate the position of sound sources in three-dimensional space, particularly when multiple sound sources are positioned in the same direction but at different heights, leading to ambiguity and incorrect identification.
Innovation Solution
An audio processing device and method that employs a sound source localizing unit to determine sound source directions and a sound source position estimating unit to calculate midpoints between sound receiving units, classifying these midpoints into clusters to update the estimated sound source position based on probabilities following von-Mises and multi-dimensional Gaussian distributions, ensuring accurate three-dimensional positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If triangulation technique using azimuth angle data is used for sound source localization, then two-dimensional sound source position can be acquired, but sound sources positioned in the same direction at different heights cannot be distinguished
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional azimuth angle-based localization to three-dimensional position estimation by introducing elevation angle information and using midpoint calculations in 3D space. The sound source position estimating unit calculates midpoints between sound receiving units based on localized sound source directions, enabling discrimination of sound sources at different heights by incorporating the vertical dimension into the positioning calculation.
2Reliability
If midpoint classification into clusters is performed to update sound source position, then estimation probability increases, but calculation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the calculation process into distinct modules: sound source direction localization, midpoint calculation between sound receiving units, cluster classification of midpoints, and iterative position updating. By dividing the complex 3D positioning task into these manageable segments, the system achieves reliable position estimation while keeping each calculation step tractable and computationally efficient.
Data Source
AI summary
An audio processing device includes: a sound source localizing unit configured to determine a localized sound source direction, which is a direction of a sound source, on the basis of audio signals of a plurality of channels acquired from M (here, M is an integer equal to or greater than “3”) sound receiving units of which positions are different from each other; and a sound source position estimating unit configured to, for each set of two sound receiving units, estimate a midpoint of a segment perpendicular to both of half lines directed in estimated sound source directions, which are directions from the sound receiving units to an estimated sound source position of the sound source, as the estimated sound source position.