Novel interface using a microphone array for wheelchair control

Abstract

This paper describes a novel interface that enables the control of a wheelchair by disabled people without having to use their hands. Thus far, a voice‐driven wheelchair has been developed for disabled people who find it difficult to move their hands but are able to speak. Such wheelchairs usually adopt a headset microphone in order to reduce noise interference. However, a headset microphone is not practical because disabled people cannot wear the headset independently. Another problem faced is that the microphone shifts away from the mouth due to involuntary movements. In the proposed system, however, we use a microphone array that is mounted on a wheelchair, so that the disabled people do not need to wear the microphone. The system is also robust to noises and is able to recognize a face’s direction by estimating the position of a sound source such as the mouth. For instance, when disabled people need to turn left, they face left and make a sound that is not restricted to voice commands. Thus, the proposed system does not require disabled people to utter clear voice commands. This feature enables the application of the system to more general cases.