Deep Learning-Based 2D Speaker Localization with Large Ad-hoc Microphone Arrays

Concepts de base

A novel deep learning-based method for 2D speaker localization using large-scale ad-hoc microphone arrays, which integrates CNN-based DOA estimation, triangulation, and clustering techniques to accurately estimate speaker positions.

Résumé

The paper proposes a deep learning-based framework for 2D speaker localization using large-scale ad-hoc microphone arrays. The key components are:

DOA Estimation Module:

Employs convolutional neural networks (CNNs) at each ad-hoc node to estimate speaker directions (DOAs).
Introduces a quantization-error-free soft label encoding and decoding strategy to improve DOA estimation accuracy.

Node Selection Algorithm:

Selects the most reliable ad-hoc nodes based on the DOA estimation quality at each node.

Triangulation and Clustering:

Integrates the DOA estimates from selected nodes using triangulation to obtain rough 2D speaker locations.
Applies kernel mean-shift clustering to refine the 2D speaker positions from the rough estimates.
The proposed method is evaluated on both simulated and real-world datasets. It significantly outperforms conventional methods and demonstrates the advantages of leveraging large-scale ad-hoc microphone arrays for 2D speaker localization.

Stats

The proposed method was evaluated on both simulated data and a newly recorded real-world dataset named Libri-adhoc-nodes10.
The simulated data was generated using the LibriSpeech corpus and ambient noise sources, with varying room sizes, reverberation times, and SNR levels.
The Libri-adhoc-nodes10 dataset contains 432 hours of replayed speech from the LibriSpeech corpus, recorded by an ad-hoc microphone array with 10 nodes in an office and a conference room.

Citations

"While deep-learning-based speaker localization has shown advantages in challenging acoustic environments, it often yields only direction-of-arrival (DOA) cues rather than precise two-dimensional (2D) coordinates."
"To further boost the estimation accuracy, we introduce a node selection algorithm that strategically filters the most reliable nodes."
"Experimental results on both simulated data and real-world data demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over existing approaches."

Idées clés tirées de

Deep Learning Based Stage-wise Two-dimensional Speaker Localization with Large Ad-hoc Microphone Arrays

by Shupei Liu,L... à arxiv.org 04-02-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2210.10265.pdf

Questions plus approfondies

How can the proposed method be extended to 3D speaker localization?

The proposed method can be extended to 3D speaker localization by incorporating additional information about the elevation angle of the speakers. This can be achieved by using microphone arrays that are capable of capturing the vertical angle of arrival of the sound sources. By including this additional dimension, the system can estimate the 3D coordinates of the speakers. This would require modifying the CNN-based DOA estimation module to handle the additional dimension and integrating it with the existing framework for 2D localization. Triangulation and clustering techniques can be adapted to work in 3D space to accurately estimate the speaker positions.

What are the potential limitations of the node selection algorithm, and how can it be further improved?

One potential limitation of the node selection algorithm is that it relies solely on the DOA estimates from each node to determine the most reliable nodes. This approach may not take into account other factors that could affect the accuracy of the estimates, such as the distance between the nodes and the speakers or the signal-to-noise ratio at each node. To improve the node selection algorithm, additional features such as the SNR at each node, the distance between the nodes and the speakers, and the consistency of the estimates across multiple nodes can be considered. Machine learning techniques can be used to learn the importance of these features and optimize the node selection process.

How can the proposed framework be applied to other sound source localization tasks beyond speaker localization?

The proposed framework can be applied to other sound source localization tasks beyond speaker localization by adapting the input features and the output requirements of the system. For example, for sound event detection and localization, the system can be trained on audio data containing different types of sound events instead of speaker speech. The CNN-based DOA estimation module can be modified to classify different sound events based on their directions of arrival. The node selection algorithm can be adjusted to prioritize nodes that provide accurate estimates for specific sound events. The triangulation and clustering techniques can be tailored to work with different types of sound sources and environments, allowing the system to localize various sound events in real-time.