Effect of background noise and diffraction on localization of sound sources using distributed acoustic measurement equipment

This study is focused on the development of a system designed to pinpoint the positions of sound sources within a plane through the analysis of cross-correlated signals obtained from distributed microphones. Our investigation delved into assessing the impact of physical barriers and background noise on the accuracy of the proposed method for localizing sound sources. Prior research has demonstrated that measurements conducted within an anechoic chamber yield estimations accurate to within ±20 mm. When the signal-to-noise ratio of the target sound source is reduced by the background noise, the estimation is performed at the point of background noise generation. Furthermore, the introduction of physical barriers between the sound source and the microphones resulted in sound diffraction, thereby leading to estimation errors attributable to the varying lengths of diffraction paths. These findings underscore the importance of considering environmental factors in sound source localization endeavors. The estimation at Mic, where the sound-receiving level drops below -10 dB due to physical barriers, confirmed that the background noise source point is estimated as well as the background noise estimation error.