Future Directions in Microphone Array Processing

Abstract

Antenna array processing has had long-standing impact on phased array radars, sonars and radio astronomy for several decades. The gigantic antenna arrays that were constructed for deep space observation must stand out as some of the most impressive engineering achievements of any discipline. Success in these related fields of signal processing have without any doubt stimulated interest in microphone array processing. And these successes did not only generate interest, they did much more—they created high expectations. Another interest generating stimulus came from a very different field, i.e. the one of anatomy and physiology. Nature has endowed virtually all species with two ears. One good reason, of course, is that there is always a second as backup when one of the two fails. But at the same time we all know that our sense for orientation is helped considerably by the use of two ears instead of one and that it helps us understand each other in the midst of a noisy crowd.