Sound Source Localization and Separation

Abstract

This article presents common methods for sound source localization and separation, and their applications to robots. Sound source localization is an estimate of the location or direction of a sound source, whereas sound source separation extracts each sound source from a mixture of sound sources. Two approaches are possible for both technologies: binaural and microphone array processing. Sound source localization and separation have been widely studied in the fields of psychoacoustics, signal processing, and robotics. In binaural research, the human auditory capability is explored to solve both localization and separation problems. However, this approach is limited in terms of performance. Thus, microphone array processing is also being investigated as a primary topic in signal processing. Since robots are among the most promising applications of sound source localization and separation, robot audition is introduced and real‐time methods (such as the software platform for robot audition called Honda Research Institute Japan Audition for Robot with Kyoto University (HARK)) to deal with real‐world problems are explained.