Robust localization and tracking of multiple speakers in real environments for binaural robot audition

Abstract

This paper presents a multisource sound localization method based on the generalized cross-correlation (GCC) method weighted by the phase transform (PHAT) and a novel multisource speech tracking method consisting of voice activity detection (VAD) and K-means clustering algorithm for binaural robot audition. The standard K-means clustering algorithm was improved for the purpose of multisource speech tracking by adding two additional steps. Experiments conducted on the SIG-2 humanoid robot in a real environment show that our method can track multiple speakers in real-time with tracking error below 4.35°.