A BIOMIMETIC SYSTEM FOR LOCALIZATION AND SEPARATION OF MULTIPLE SOUNDSOURCES

This paper presents a system for sound source localization and separat ion inspired by the auditory mechanisms of biological systems. The sys tem consists of three omni-directional microphones, banks of band-pass filters, and a personal computer with a digital signal processor, Sou nd sources are localized using arrival temporal disparities, The zero- crossing method is used to quickly detect the arrival temporal dispari ties at signal onset to cope with echo, Arrival temporal disparity his tograms remove ambiguity and improve accuracy, The Histogram Mapping M ethod is introduced to localize multiple sound sources. The system sep arates multiple sound sources by obtaining their direction information from the localization process, Localization and separation experiment s were conducted in an anechoic chamber and an empty room, Two sound s ources, human voices, were used, Directions of the sound sources were localized within a few degrees. Sound sources were separated by 25 dB attenuation.