Localizing Near and Far Field Acoustic Sources with Distributed Microhone Arrays

In this paper, we consider the problem of acoustic source localization using distributed microphone arrays. Time differences of arrival (TDOAs) are estimated using a recently proposed method based on joint direction of arrival (DOA) and range estimation. The TDOAs are used to estimate the location of an acoustic source using a recently proposed method, based on a 4D parameter space defined by the 3D location of the source, and the TDOA. The performance of the proposed method for acoustic source localization is compared to generalized cross-correlation with phase transform (GCC-PHAT), and a method based on joint DOA and pitch estimation, using synthesized harmonic signals with varying source position. Results show a decrease in the error of the estimated position when joint DOA and range estimation is used for TDOA estimation, compared to the GCC-PHAT and joint DOA and pitch methods.