Direct-to-Reverberant Ratio estimation using a null-steered beamformer

Reverberation affects the quality and intelligibility of distant speech recorded in a room. Direct-to-Reverberant Ratio (DRR) is a useful measure for assessing the acoustic configuration and can be used to inform dereverberation algorithms. We describe a novel DRR estimation algorithm applicable where the signal was recorded with two or more microphones, such as mobile communications devices and laptops. The method uses a null-steered beamformer. In simulations the proposed method yields accurate DRR estimates to within ±4 dB across a wide variety of room sizes, reverberation times and source-receiver distances. It is also shown that the proposed method is more robust to background noise than a baseline approach. The best estimation accuracy is obtained in the region from -5 to 5 dB which is a relevant range for portable devices.