Sound source localization: Conventional methods and intensity vector direction exploitation

Automatic sound source localization has recently gained interest due to its various applications that range from surveillance to hearing aids, and teleconferencing to human computer interaction. Automatic sound source localization may refer to the process of determining only the direction of a sound source, which is known as the direction-of-arrival estimation, or also its distance in order to obtain its coordinates. Various methods have previously been proposed for this purpose. Many of these methods use the time and level differences between the signals captured by each element of a microphone array. An overview of these conventional array processing methods is given and the factors that affect their performance are discussed. The limitations of these methods affecting real-time implementation are highlighted. An emerging source localization method based on acoustic intensity is explained. A theoretical evaluation of different microphone array geometries is given. Two well-known problems, localization of multiple sources and localization of acoustic reflections, are addressed