Patent · US Expired

Binaural signal processing using multiple acoustic sensors and digital filtering

US6978159B2 · kind B2 · utility

116Cited by
105References
39Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 13, 2001
Grant dateDec 20, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 15, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04R25/552
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A desired acoustic signal is extracted from a noisy environment by generating a signal representative of the desired signal with processor (30). Processor (30) receives aural signals from two sensors (22, 24) each at a different location. The two inputs to processor (30) are converted from analog to digital format and then submitted to a discrete Fourier transform process to generate discrete spectral signal representations. The spectral signals are delayed to provide a number of intermediate signals, each corresponding to a different spatial location relative to the two sensors. Locations of the noise source and the desired source, and the spectral content of the desired signal are determined from the intermediate signal corresponding to the noise source locations. Inverse transformation of the selected intermediate signal followed by digital to analog conversion provides an output signal representative of the desired signal with output device (90). Techniques to localize multiple acoustic sources are also disclosed. Further, a technique to enhance noise reduction from multiple sources based on two-sensor reception is described.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.