A basic study on estimating location of sound source by using distributed acoustic measurement network

The sounds from childcare facilities are often a cause of noise problems with neighbors, however since the sound power levels of children's play and other sounds in child-care facilities have not become clear, evaluation methods have not been established, making countermeasures difficult. In order to evaluate the noise, it is necessary to model the location of the sound source and the sound power level. We have been developing a sound source identification system that uses multiple Raspberry Pi-based recording devices to estimate the location of a sound source and sound power levels. By using GPS for time synchronization, the system can be distributed and placed without connecting cables, which is expected to expand the measurement area significantly. As a method of estimation, the arrival time difference is calculated by cross-correlation from the signals input to each recording device, and the sound source location is estimated from the calculated arrival time difference and the location information of the device. The effectiveness of this system was verified in an anechoic room and outdoor fields.