SBIR Phase I: Enhanced Voice Capture for Mobile Devices Using a Mixed-Response-Type Array

创新之处在于为移动的音频设备开发了非常小的音频子系统，具有前所未有的噪声和干扰降低效果。音频子系统是许多大容量便携式设备（如移动的电话、媒体平板电脑和数字录音机）的基础。多个麦克风可以通过减少声学噪声干扰来增强音频捕获并提高信号质量，但是当前分离的全向麦克风阵列需要麦克风之间的大间距来实现高分辨力。因此，移动的通信设备的小尺寸从根本上降低了现有阵列技术的性能。“零孔径”混合响应型阵列保持了高方向选择性，麦克风间距非常近，再加上创新的信号处理方法，可以实现前所未有的背景噪声和干扰减少，目标信号质量高。这项研究将扩展现有的自由场阵列和自适应波束形成方法，以不同的声学嵌入在手持设备中，将开发一种新的实时强大的波束形成器的小阵列，并将大大提高噪声和干扰减少通过新的多通道降噪处理。成功的研究可以从根本上改善小型移动的电子语音通信设备的信号捕获和噪声抑制，从而大大改善其最基本的功能，使其能够在更广泛的环境中有效使用。更广泛的/商业影响是增强和促进移动终端用户的移动的语音通信。语音和音频子系统是移动的设备（包括手机、智能手机和媒体平板电脑）的基本组件。语音通信期间的背景噪声干扰对于许多用户来说是一个主要问题，特别是对于数百万经常难以使用当前语音通信技术进行通信的听力受损者和老年人来说。主要的设备制造商最近已经开始在商业设备中实现麦克风阵列，然而当前的语音捕获系统未能将阵列技术的全部潜力用于移动的应用。市场研究预测，专用语音处理器的销量将从2010年的6300万台增长到2015年的16亿台。先前的研究已经使得创新的混合响应型阵列技术的开发成为可能，使得阵列能够在更小的设备中有效地实现。然而，许多未解决的技术问题阻碍了该技术在移动的市场内的商业化。这个第一阶段项目将解决这些问题，提供一个颠覆性的语音处理解决方案，为移动的设备的语音捕获性能设定新的标准。

The innovation is to develop very small audio subsystems for mobile audio devices with unprecedented noise and interference reduction. Audio subsystems are fundamental to many high-volume portable devices such as mobile phones, media tablets, and digital voice recorders. Multiple microphones can enhance audio capture and improve signal quality by reducing acoustic noise interference, but current arrays of separated omni-directional microphones require large spacing between microphones to achieve high discrimination. The small size of mobile communication devices thus fundamentally degrades the performance of existing array technologies. "Zero-aperture" mixed-response-type arrays that retain high directional selectivity with very closely spaced microphones coupled with innovative signal-processing methods may achieve unprecedented background noise and interference reduction with high target signal quality. The research will extend existing free-field arrays and adaptive beamforming methods to the different acoustics when embedded in handheld devices, will develop a novel real-time robust beamformer for small arrays, and will greatly increase noise and interference reduction through new multichannel noise-reduction processing. Successful research could fundamentally improve the signal capture and noise rejection of small mobile electronic voice communication devices, thus greatly improving their most fundamental function and enabling their effective use in a wider range of environments.The broader/commercial impact is to enhance and facilitate mobile voice communication for mobile device users. The voice and audio subsystem is a fundamental component of mobile devices including cell phones, smartphones and media tablets. Background noise interference during voice communication presents a major problem for many users, especially the millions of hearing impaired and elderly individuals who often struggle to communicate using current voice communications technology. Major device manufacturers have recently begun to implement microphone arrays in commercial devices, yet current voice capture systems fail to utilize the full potential of array technology for mobile applications. Market research has predicted that dedicated voice processor sales will grow to 1.6 billion units in 2015 from 63 million in 2010. Prior research has enabled the development of innovative mixed-response-type array technology, allowing arrays to be implemented effectively in smaller devices. However, a number of unsolved technical problems have prevented commercialization of the technology within the mobile market. This Phase I project will address these problems to deliver a disruptive voice processing solution, setting a new standard for voice capture performance in mobile devices.