Prediction of unlearned position based on local regression for single-channel talker localization using acoustic transfer function

This paper presents a sound-source (talker) localization method using only a single microphone. In our previous work, we discussed the single-channel sound-source localization method based on the discrimination of the acoustic transfer function. However, that method requires the training of the acoustic transfer function for each possible position in advance, and it is difficult to estimate the position that has not been pre-trained. In order to estimate such unlearned positions, in this paper, we discuss a single-channel talker localization method based on a regression model, which predicts the position from the acoustic transfer function. For training the regression model, we use the local regression approach, which trains the regression model from only training samples that are similar to the evaluation data. Considering both the linear and non-linear regression models, the effectiveness of this method has been confirmed by sound-source localization experiments performed in different room environments.