Microphone Arrays for Immersive Voice Communications

沉浸式语音通信以低成本有效地促进了小组协作和电话会议。它正在成为现代通信网络的一个组成部分。沉浸式语音通信系统的一个关键技术挑战***是获取高保真声学、音频和语音信号的能力，同时保持源的空间信息完整，以便远程听众***能够感知声学环境，跟随一组说话者，并通过听***信号的再现来区分他们。为了获得高保真语音并保持声音的真实感，有必要使用麦克风阵列。虽然麦克风阵列处理已经研究了几十年，但现有的技术产生频率相关的响应，这可能会对感兴趣的信号、噪声、干扰和声音真实感造成很大的失真；因此，它们对于沉浸式通信系统来说是不够的。因此，本提案旨在解决麦克风阵列设计和波束形成的技术问题，并开发理论、方法和技术，以实现沉浸式语音通信系统中高保真空间声音的获取、处理和再现。本方案包含以下关键技术创新和优点：***1)频率不变麦克风阵列设计和60 ~ 20 kHz信号波束形成的基本公式和信号处理理论。***2)新一代线性麦克风阵列设计和频率不变和***鲁棒波束形成技术。***3)新一代圆形和球形麦克风阵列设计以及频率不变和***鲁棒波束形成算法。***4)在给定性能标准下优化传声器阵列几何形状的信号处理理论。***5)分布式麦克风阵列信号处理理论及新一代处理技术。***6)一种实用的系统，以无处不在的声学信号为输入，产生高保真的输出信号，具有源真实感和可识别的源身份。******很明显，拟议的研究是沉浸式语音通信的核心。由此产生的***技术除了沉浸式语音通信之外，还可以有广泛的应用，包括远程协作、人机界面、声学监控、安全、智能手机、智能家居系统、平板电脑、助听器等。随着对麦克风阵列的需求越来越大，该项目的研究成果无疑将对社会产生深远的影响，将是真正不可或缺的。

Immersive voice communication facilitates group collaborations and teleconferencing efficiently at low***costs. It is becoming an integral part of modern communication networks. A key technical challenge***for an immersive voice communication system is the ability to acquire high-fidelity acoustic, audio, and***speech signals while keeping spatial information of the sources intact so that it is possible for the remote listener***to sense the acoustic environment, follow a panel of talkers, and distinguish them by listening to the***reproduction of the signals. To acquire high-fidelity speech and preserve the sound realism, it is necessary***to use microphone arrays. Although microphone array processing has been studied for a few decades,***existing techniques produce frequency-dependent responses, which may cause much distortion to the signal***of interest, noise, interferences, and sound realism; as a result, they are not sufficient for***immersive communication systems. This proposal is therefore organized to address the technical issues of***microphone array design and beamforming and develop theory, methods, and technologies that can allow***acquisition, processing, and reproduction of high-fidelity spatial sound for immersive voice communication***systems. This proposal contains the following key technical innovations and merits.***1) A fundamental formulation of and a signal processing theory for frequency-invariant microphone***array design and beamforming for signals with frequency range from 60 Hz to 20 kHz.***2) A new generation of technologies for linear microphone array design and frequency-invariant and***robust beamforming.***3) A new generation of circular and spherical microphone array design and frequency-invariant and***robust beamforming algorithms.***4) A signal processing theory for optimization of microphone array geometry with some given performance***criteria.***5) A signal processing theory and a new generation of technologies for distributed microphone array***processing.***6) A practical system that takes ubiquitous acoustic signals as input and produces high-fidelity output***signals with source realism and identifiable source identities.******It is clear that the proposed research is in the heart of immersive voice communication. The resulting***technologies can have a broad range of applications besides immersive voice communication including***telecollaboration, human-machine interfaces, acoustic surveillance, security, smartphones, smart home***systems, tablet PCs, hearing aids, etc. As the demand of microphone arrays is increasing, the research***result of this project will have undoubtedly a profound impact on the society and it will be truly indispensable.