Desktop mic array for teleconferencing

Reducing the noise and reverberance in sound pickup has been a problem ever since the microphone was invented. Solutions using multiple microphones in an array are an important avenue of research. Unfortunately, because of the computational/monetary cost of these approaches, they have not been widely implemented in products. In the present paper, an automatically steered mic array, which works by taking linear combinations of two dipole microphones, is presented whose cost is low enough to have been implemented in a videoconferencing product. The array is positioned centrally on the conference table and provides very reasonable pickup for people speaking within a 7 foot radius, adequate for most conferencing situations. While simple in structure, the array provides a large increase in convenience and performance compared to the common method of laying out multiple cardioid microphones on the table, where each participant must be within the pickup angle/range of a cardioid microphone