A new region search method based on DOA estimation for speech source localization by SRP-PHAT method

Steered Response Power-PHAse Transform (SRP-PHAT) method has been already proposed and investigated for the sound source localization. Grid search methods can be used to find global maximum of SRP, but they are so computationally expensive that can not be used in real-time applications. In this paper, we have proposed a SRP-based localization method which works in cascade with a DOA estimation module; i.e. first the direction of speaker is recognized by one of the DOA estimation methods; after that, we bound the search region to a space fragment around estimated direction of speaker; then we use SRP-PHAT algorithm computations and volume contraction methods (such as SRC and CFRC) on this fragmentized regions and decrease computational costs to a large extent. By use of the data collected from different (speaker) scenarios, we demonstrate the accuracy and speed gained by proposed method.