1. Microphone Array Projects
Ryan M. Corey and Andrew C. Singer

2. Far-field speech recognition
Microphone Arrays
Capture spatial information about sound scene
Localize and separate multiple sound sources
Enhance signals in noisy environments
Voice communication
Far-field speech recognition
Spatial Sound
Processing
Assistive listening
Augmented reality

3. What we want Microphone array designs for real-world data collection
Record raw multichannel audio data for later analysis
Test new audio source separation algorithms
Polished, reliable design we can easily reproduce
Competent engineer could assemble in a day or two
Firmware, drivers, and documentation
Calibration and test data
Pick your own application!
Assistive listening
Machine audition
Audio augmented reality
3D audio/video production
Entertainment, gaming, music, karaoke…

4. Project 1: Wearable Microphone Array
Most wearable electronics have only 2-4 mics
Large arrays give better spatial resolution
Many microphones (~ 8-32)
Large total length/area (10’s of cm)
Many possible wearable designs
Head, neck, shoulders, torso, glasses…
Should be portable, comfortable, safe
Record raw data for later analysis
(Optional) Real-time spatial audio processing
Add a programmable processor
< 10 ms total mic-to-ear latency for real-time listening
B. Widrow (Stanford), 2000
U. Washington “COSINE”, 2009

5. Project 2: Huge Microphone Array
New tech makes it easier to build huge microphone arrays
(Digital) MEMS microphones
Improved embedded processing
Need good multichannel data for signal processing research
Design modules that can be scaled to dozens/hundreds of mics
Need large bandwidth for raw data
Need synchronized sampling between modules
OK to demonstrate small setup that we can later scale up
Portable and reconfigurable
Record in different environments
Rearrange modules for different array shapes
MIT “LOUD”, 2004

6. 119 Coordinated Science Lab
Other Ideas
Augmented listening headphones
Robot/drone microphone array
Binaural recording (virtual 3D audio)
Audio augmented reality
Anything with microphones on it!
Contact
Ryan M. Corey
119 Coordinated Science Lab
Put a mic on it