arXiv subjects

Jean Rouat

Publications and source records attributed to Jean Rouat.

40 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Robust Sound Source Localization Using a Microphone Array on a Mobile Robot

The hearing sense on a mobile robot is important because it is omnidirectional and it does not require direct line-of-sight with the sound source. Such capabilities can nicely complement vision to help localize a person or an interesting event in the environment. To do so the robot auditory system must be able to work in noisy, unknown and diverse environmental conditions. In this paper we present a robust sound source localization method in three-dimensional space using an array of 8 microphones. The method is based on time delay of arrival estimation. Results show that a mobile robot can localize in real time different types of sound sources over a range of 3 meters and with a precision of 3 degrees.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2016

Robust Localization and Tracking of Simultaneous Moving Sound Sources Using Beamforming and Particle Filtering

Mobile robots in real-life settings would benefit from being able to localize and track sound sources. Such a capability can help localizing a person or an interesting event in the environment, and also provides enhanced processing for other capabilities such as speech recognition. To give this capability to a robot, the challenge is not only to localize simultaneous sound sources, but to track them over time. In this paper we propose a robust sound source localization and tracking method using an array of eight microphones. The method is based on a frequency-domain implementation of a steered beamformer along with a particle filter-based tracking algorithm. Results show that a mobile robot can localize and track in real-time multiple moving sources of different types over a range of 7 meters. These new capabilities allow a mobile robot to interact using more natural means with people in real life settings.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2016

Robust Recognition of Simultaneous Speech By a Mobile Robot

This paper describes a system that gives a mobile robot the ability to perform automatic speech recognition with simultaneous speakers. A microphone array is used along with a real-time implementation of Geometric Source Separation and a post-filter that gives a further reduction of interference from other sources. The post-filter is also used to estimate the reliability of spectral features and compute a missing feature mask. The mask is used in a missing feature theory-based speech recognition system to recognize the speech from simultaneous Japanese speakers in the context of a humanoid robot. Recognition rates are presented for three simultaneous speakers located at 2 meters from the robot. The system was evaluated on a 200 word vocabulary at different azimuths between sources, ranging from 10 to 90 degrees. Compared to the use of the microphone array source separation alone, we demonstrate an average reduction in relative recognition error rate of 24% with the post-filter and of 42% when the missing features approach is combined with the post-filter. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our multi-source microphone array post-filter and the improvement it provides when used in conjunction with the missing features theory.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2013

Objets Sonores: Une Représentation Bio-Inspirée Hiérarchique Parcimonieuse À Très Grandes Dimensions Utilisable En Reconnaissance; Auditory Objects: Bio-Inspired Hierarchical Sparse High Dimensional Representation for Recognition

L'accent est placé dans cet article sur la structure hiérarchique, l'aspect parcimonieux de la représentation de l'information sonore, la très grande dimension des caractéristiques ainsi que sur l'indépendance des caractéristiques permettant de définir les composantes des objets sonores. Les notions d'objet sonore et de représentation neuronale sont d'abord introduites, puis illustrées avec une application en analyse de signaux sonores variés: parole, musique et environnements naturels extérieurs. Finalement, un nouveau système de reconnaissance automatique de parole est proposé. Celui-ci est comparé à un système statistique conventionnel. Il montre très clairement que l'analyse par objets sonores introduit une grande polyvalence et robustesse en reconnaissance de parole. Cette intégration des connaissances en neurosciences et traitement des signaux acoustiques ouvre de nouvelles perspectives dans le domaine de la reconnaissance de signaux acoustiques. The emphasis is put on the hierarchical structure, independence and sparseness aspects of auditory signal representations in high-dimensional spaces, so as to define the components of auditory objects. The concept of an auditory object and its neural representation is introduced. An illustrative application then follows, consisting in the analysis of various auditory signals: speech, music and natural outdoor environments. A new automatic speech recognition (ASR) system is then proposed and compared to a conventional statistical system. The proposed system clearly shows that an object-based analysis introduces a great flexibility and robustness for the task of speech recognition. The integration of knowledge from neuroscience and acoustic signal processing brings new ways of thinking to the field of classification of acoustic signals.

cs.SD↗