Accurate Real-Time Estimation of 2-Dimensional Direction of Arrival using a 3-Microphone Array

Abstract: This paper presents a method for real-time estimation of 2-dimensional direction of arrival (2D-DOA) of one or more sound sources using a nonlinear array of three microphones. 2D-DOA is estimated employing frame-level time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements. Unlike conventional methods, which infer location parameters from TDOAs using a theoretical model, we propose a more practical approach based on supervised learning. The proposed model employs nearest neighbor search (NNS) applied to a spherical Fibonacci lattice consisting of TDOA to 2D-DOA mappings learned directly in the field. Filtering and clustering post-processors are also introduced for improved source detection and localization robustness.