Microphone array with rear venting
View Patent ↗Microphone arrays (MAs) are described that position and vent microphones so that performance of a noise suppression system coupled to the microphone array is enhanced. The MA includes at least two physical microphones to receive acoustic signals. The physical microphones make use of a common rear vent (actual or virtual) that samples a common pressure source. The MA includes a physical directional microphone configuration and a virtual directional microphone configuration. By making the input to the rear vents of the microphones (actual or virtual) as similar as possible, the real-world filter to be modeled becomes much simpler to model using an adaptive filter.
1. A device comprising:
a headset including a housing;
a speaker connected to the housing;
a first microphone;
a second microphone; and
a third microphone,
wherein the third microphone is omnidirectional and is configured to function as a common rear vent for the first and the second microphones,
wherein the first micro is coupled to a first processing path with a first processing path output, the second microphone is coupled to a second processing path with a second processing path output, and the third microphone is coupled to a third processing path with a third processing path output and a fourth processing path with a fourth processing path output,
wherein the first processing path output and the third processing path output are configured to be summed to form a first virtual microphone, and the second processing path output and the fourth processing path output are configured to be summed to form a second virtual microphone.
2. The device of claim 1 , including the first virtual microphone comprising a combination of a first microphone signal and a third microphone signal, wherein the first microphone signal is generated by the first microphone and the third microphone signal is generated by the third microphone.
3. The device of claim 2 , including the second virtual microphone comprising a combination of a second microphone signal and the third microphone signal, wherein the second microphone signal is generated by the second microphone, wherein the third microphone is configured to function as a common rear vent for the first and the second virtual microphones.
4. The device of claim 3 , wherein a first noise response of the first virtual microphone and a second noise response of the second virtual microphone are substantially similar.
5. The device of claim 3 , wherein a first speech response of the first virtual microphone and a second speech response of the second virtual microphone are substantially dissimilar.
6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first microphone, the second microphone, and the third microphone are connected to a first side of the housing.
7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first microphone is connected to a first side of the housing, the second microphone is connected to a second side of the housing, and the third microphone is connected to a third side of the housing.
8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first microphone is connected to a first side of the housing and the second microphone and the third microphone is connected to a second side of the housing.
9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the second microphone is positioned approximately orthogonally to the first microphone.
10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the third microphone is positioned approximately orthogonally to the first microphone.
11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the third microphone is positioned adjacent the second microphone and between the first and the second microphones.
12. The device of claim 1 , wherein the third microphone is positioned adjacent the second microphone and behind the first microphone.
13. The device of claim 1 , wherein a first distance between the first microphone and the third microphone is approximately equal to a second distance between the second microphone and the third microphone.
14. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first microphone, the second microphone, and the third microphone are omnidirectional microphones.
15. The device of claim 1 , wherein the headset is portable and attaches to a region of a human head.
16. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first, second and third microphones receive acoustic signals including acoustic speech and acoustic noise.
17. The device of claim 16 , wherein a source that generates the acoustic speech is a mouth of a human wearing the headset.
18. The device of claim 1 , comprising a processing component coupled to the first microphone, the second microphone and the third microphone.
19. The device of claim 18 , comprising a voice activity detector (VAD) coupled to the processing component, the VAD generating voice activity signals.
20. The device of claim 18 , comprising an adaptive noise removal application coupled to the processing component, the adaptive noise removal application receiving signals from the first, second and third microphones and generating the output signals.
21. The device of claim 18 , comprising a communication channel coupled to the processing component, the communication channel comprising at least one of a wireless channel, a wired channel, and a hybrid wireless/wired channel.
22. The device of claim 21 , comprising a communication device coupled to the headset via the communication channel, the communication device comprising one or more of cellular telephones, satellite telephones, portable telephones, wireline telephones, Internet telephones, wireless transceivers, wireless communication radios, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and personal computers (PCs).
23. A device comprising:
a housing that is portable and attaches to a region of a human head;
a speaker connected to the housing;
a first microphone connected to a first side of the housing;
a second microphone connected to a second side of the housing; and
a third microphone connected to the second side of the housing, the third microphone coupled to the first microphone and the second microphone,
wherein the third microphone is omnidirectional and is configured to function as a common rear vent for the first and the second microphones,
wherein the first microphone is coupled to a first processing path with a first processing path output, the second microphone is coupled to a second processing path with a second processing path output, and the third microphone is coupled to a third processing path with a third processing path output and a fourth processing path with a fourth processing path output,
wherein the first processing path output and the third processing path output are configured to be summed to form a first virtual microphone, and the second processing path output and the fourth processing path output are configured to be summed to form a second virtual microphone.
24. A headset comprising:
a housing including a speaker, a first physical microphone, a second physical microphone and a third physical microphone;
a first virtual microphone comprising a combination of a first microphone signal and a third microphone signal, wherein the first microphone signal is generated by the first physical microphone and the third microphone signal is generated by the third physical microphone; and
a second virtual microphone comprising a combination of a second microphone signal and the third microphone signal, wherein the second microphone signal is generated by the second physical microphone, wherein the third physical microphone is omnidirectional and is configured to function as a common rear vent for the first and the second virtual microphones,
wherein the first physical microphone is coupled to a first processing path with a first processing path output, the second physical microphone is coupled to a second processing path with a second processing path output, and the third physical microphone is coupled to a third processing path with a third processing path output and a fourth processing path with a fourth processing path output,
wherein the first processing path output and the third processing path output are configured to be summed to form the first virtual microphone, and the second processing path output and the fourth processing path output are configured to be summed to form the second virtual microphone.
25. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the first virtual microphone and the second virtual microphone are distinct virtual directional microphones with substantially similar responses to noise and substantially dissimilar responses to speech.
26. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the first virtual microphone comprises the third microphone signal subtracted from the first microphone signal.
27. The headset of claim 26 , wherein the third microphone signal is delayed.
28. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the second virtual microphone comprises the third microphone signal subtracted from the second microphone signal.
29. The headset of claim 28 , wherein the third microphone signal is delayed.
30. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the first virtual microphone comprises a delayed version of the third microphone signal subtracted from the first microphone signal.
31. The headset of claim 30 , wherein the second virtual microphone comprises a delayed version of the third microphone signal subtracted from the second microphone signal.
32. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the second physical microphone is configured to be approximately orthogonally to the first physical microphone.
33. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the third physical microphone is configured to be approximately orthogonally to the first physical microphone.
34. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the third physical microphone is configured to be adjacent the second physical microphone and between the first and the second physical microphones.
35. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the third physical microphone is configured to be adjacent the second physical microphone and behind the first physical microphone.
36. The headset of claim 24 , wherein a first distance between the first physical microphone and the third physical microphone is approximately equal to a second distance between the second physical microphone and the third physical microphone.
37. The headset of claim 24 , wherein a first noise response of the first physical microphone and a second noise response of the second physical microphone are substantially similar.
38. The headset of claim 24 , wherein a first speech response of the first physical microphone and a second speech response of the second physical microphone are substantially dissimilar.
39. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the first, second and third physical microphones are omnidirectional.
40. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the first, second and third microphones receive acoustic signals including acoustic speech and acoustic noise.
41. The headset of claim 40 , wherein a source that generates the acoustic speech is a mouth of a human wearing the headset.
42. The headset of claim 24 , comprising a processing component coupled to the first microphone, the second microphone and the third microphone.
43. The headset of claim 42 , comprising a voice activity detector (VAD) coupled to the processing component, the VAD generating voice activity signals.
44. The headset of claim 42 , comprising an adaptive noise removal application coupled to the processing component, the adaptive noise removal application receiving signals from the first, second and third microphones and generating output signals that are denoised versions of the acoustic signals.
45. The headset of claim 42 , comprising a communication channel coupled to the processing component, the communication channel comprising at least one of a wireless channel, a wired channel, and a hybrid wireless/wired channel.
46. The headset of claim 45 , comprising a communication device coupled to the headset via the communication channel, the communication device comprising one or more of cellular telephones, satellite telephones, portable telephones, wireline telephones, Internet telephones, wireless transceivers, wireless communication radios, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and personal computers (PCs).
47. The headset of claim 24 , wherein the housing is portable and attaches to a region of a human head.
48. A headset comprising:
a speaker, a first microphone outputting a first microphone signal, a second microphone outputting a second microphone signal, and a third microphone outputting a third microphone signal; and
a processing component coupled to the first, second and third microphone signals, the processing component generating a virtual microphone array comprising a first virtual microphone and a second virtual microphone,
wherein the first virtual microphone comprises a combination of the first microphone signal and the third microphone signal,
wherein the second virtual microphone comprises a combination of the second microphone signal and the third microphone signal,
wherein the third microphone is omnidirectional and functions as a common rear vent for the first and the second virtual microphones,
wherein the first microphone is coupled to a first processing path with a first processing path output, the second microphone is coupled to a second processing path with a second processing path output, and the third microphone is coupled to a third processing path with a third processing path output and a fourth processing path with a fourth processing path output,
wherein the first processing path output and the third processing path output are summed to form a first virtual microphone, and the second processing path output and the fourth processing path output are summed to form a second virtual microphone,
wherein the first virtual microphone and the second virtual microphone have substantially similar responses to noise and substantially dissimilar responses to speech.
49. The headset of claim 48 , comprising a processing component coupled to the first, second and third microphones.
50. The headset of claim 49 , comprising an adaptive noise removal application coupled to the processing component, the adaptive noise removal application receiving signals from the first, second and third microphones and generating the output signals.
51. The headset of claim 49 , comprising:
a communication channel coupled to the processing component, the communication channel comprising at least one of a wireless channel, a wired channel, and a hybrid wireless/wired channel; and
a communication device coupled to the processing component via the communication channel, the communication device comprising one or more of cellular telephones, satellite telephones, portable telephones, wireline telephones, Internet telephones, wireless transceivers, wireless communication radios, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and personal computers (PCs).