Acoustic Microphone Array Research Articles

A Combined Microphone and Camera Calibration Technique With Application to Acoustic Imaging

We present a calibration technique for an acoustic imaging microphone array, combined with a digital camera. Computer vision and acoustic time of arrival data are used to obtain microphone coordinates in the camera reference frame. Our new method allows acoustic maps to be plotted onto the camera images without the need for additional camera alignment or calibration. Microphones and cameras may be placed in an ad-hoc arrangement and, after calibration, the coordinates of the microphones are known in the reference frame of a camera in the array. No prior knowledge of microphone positions, inter-microphone spacings, or air temperature is required. This technique is applied to a spherical microphone array and a mean difference of 3 mm was obtained between the coordinates obtained with this calibration technique and those measured using a precision mechanical method.

Spatial memory and stereotypy of flight paths by big brown bats in cluttered surroundings

The big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, uses echolocation for foraging and orientation. The limited operating range of biosonar implies that bats must rely upon spatial memory in familiar spaces with dimensions larger than a few meters. Prior experiments with bats flying in obstacle arrays have revealed differences in flight and acoustic emission patterns depending on the density and spatial extent of the obstacles. Using the same method, combined with acoustic microphone array tracking, we flew big brown bats in an obstacle array that varied in density and distribution in different locations in the flight room. In the initial experiment, six bats learned individually stereotyped flight patterns as they became familiar with the space. After the first day, the repetition rate of sonar broadcasts dropped to a stable level, consistent with low-density clutter. In a second experiment, after acquiring their stable paths, each bat was released from each of two unfamiliar locations in the room. Each bat still followed the same flight path it learned originally. In a third experiment, performed 1 month after the first two experiments, three of the bats were re-flown in the same configuration of obstacles; these three resumed flying in their accustomed path. The other three bats were flown in a mirror-image reconfiguration of the obstacles; these bats quickly found stable flight paths that differed from their originally learned paths. Overall, the flight patterns indicate that the bats perceive the cluttered space as a single scene through which they develop globally organized flight paths.

Design and preliminary testing of a visually guided hearing aid

An approach to hearing aid design is described, and preliminary acoustical and perceptual measurements are reported, in which an acoustic beam-forming microphone array is coupled to an eye-glasses-mounted eye-tracker. This visually guided hearing aid (VGHA)-currently a laboratory-based prototype-senses direction of gaze using the eye tracker and an interface converts those values into control signals that steer the acoustic beam accordingly. Preliminary speech intelligibility measurements with noise and speech maskers revealed near- or better-than normal spatial release from masking with the VGHA. Although not yet a wearable prosthesis, the principle underlying the device is supported by these findings.

Experimental methods for multi-diagnostics of flow fields in wind tunnels

Advanced optical and acoustical measurement techniques as developed during the last decade allow new insight into complex unsteady flow fields and sound fields in aerodynamics. Parallel application of such experimental diagnostics methods allows a more complete description of complex flow phenomena and provides high quality data for validation of numerical calculations. In particular, three examples for multi-diagnostics of the flow field above a delta wing and within the slat of a high lift configuration by means of PSP and PIV, PIV and PDMS, and by means of PIV and the Acoustic Microphone Array Technique will be given during the presentation.

Stability Analysis for Noise-Source Modeling of a Part-Span Flap

The relevant and important flow features of the local mean flowfleld In the vicinity of a flap side edge are extracted from an extensive computational and experimental database. Based on the local flow features, possible mechanisms for flow-induced noise sources that are responsible for sound generation at flap side edges are conjectured. Relatively simple flow models for the dominant noise sources are proposed and developed. The models are based on the most amplified instability modes of the local shear flow. Stability analysis of the modeled flowfleld provides an estimate of the frequencies associated with the local flow unsteadiness. Computed frequencies show the proper trend and are in good agreement with NASA Langley Research Center's acoustic microphone array and unsteady surface-pressure measurements.

Simulation of multi-microphone hearing aids in multiple interference environments.

In this study, the advantages of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) hardware for hearing aids are investigated in the context of multiple microphone arrays. One key question in multiple microphone DSP system design remains the allocation of processing resources between the number of microphones and the number of adjustable tap weights applied to each microphone. This study addresses the appropriate distribution of these resources for currently implementable adaptive DSP systems. Comparisons are made by computer simulation that includes acoustic headshadow, reverberation effects and non-ideal microphone array hardware in a wide variety of environments. Variations in the number of interfering sources, the amount of reverberation and the microphone array configuration leads to several important conclusions. Performance improvements provided by the processors are reported as the broadband unweighted signal-to-babble ratio of pre-emphasized speech and speech-shaped babble. Results are demonstrated for both fixed and robust adaptive systems.