Time difference of arrival estimation based on binary frequency mask for sound source localization on mobile robots

Localization of sound sources in adverse environments is an important challenge in robot audition. The target sound source is often corrupted by coherent broadband noise, which introduces localization ambiguities as noise is often mistaken as the target source. To discriminate the time difference of arrival (TDOA) parameters of the target source and noise, this paper presents a binary mask for weighted generalized cross-correlation with phase transform (GCC-PHAT). Simulation and experiments on a mobile robot suggest that the proposed technique improves TDOA discrimination. It also brings the additional benefit of modulating the computing load requirement according to voice activity.