Patent ID: 9093078
Filing Date: 2015-07-28
Classification: G10L,H04R,H04S

Abstract:
1. A method of separating a mixture of acoustic signals from a plurality of sources, the method comprising: providing pressure signals indicative of time-varying acoustic pressure in the mixture; defining a series of time windows; and for each time window: a) providing from the pressure signals a series of sample values of measured directional pressure gradient; b) identifying different frequency components of the pressure signals c) for each frequency component defining an associated direction; d) combining the associated directions of the frequency components to form a probability distribution of the associated directions; e) modeling the probability distribution so as to include a set of source components each comprising a probability distribution of associated directions from a single sound source; f) obtaining from the source components a directionality function for a source direction wherein the directionality function defines a weighting factor which is applied to each frequency component and varies as a function of the difference between the source direction and the associated direction of the frequency component; and g) using the directionality function to estimate the frequency components of the acoustic signal from the at least one source direction; thereby h) generating a separated signal for at least one of the sources.