A method for precise sound sources detection and localization in interiors is presented. Acoustic vector sensors, which provide multichannel output signals of acoustic pressure and particle velocity were employed. Methods for detecting acoustic events are introduced. The algorithm for localizing sound events in the audience is presented. The system set up in a lecture hall, which serves as a demonstrator of the proposed technology, is described. The accurracy of the proposed method is evaluated by the described measurement results. The analysis of the results is followed by conclusions pertaining the usability of the proposed system. The concept of the multimodal audio-visual detection of events in the audience is also introduced.
A single acoustic vector sensor (AVS) cannot be used to find the direction-of-arrival (DOA) of two or more coherent (fully correlated) sources. We have proposed a technique for estimating DOAs (in 2D geometry) of two simultaneous coherent sources using single AVS under the assumption that acoustic sources enter in the field sequentially. The DOA estimation has been investigated with two different configurations of AVS, each consisting of three microphones in a plane. The technique has been also applied in tracking (a) an acoustic source in the presence of stationary interfering coherent source and (b) two coherent sources when the sources are changing their locations alternatively. The experimental environment has been generated using the Finite-Element Method tool viz. COMSOL to corroborate the proposed scheme.