Processing of sound data for separating sound sources in a multichannel signal

A sound data processing device implemented so as to perform separation processing of N sound sources of a multichannel sound signal captured by a plurality of sensors in a real environment, wherein the sound data processing device comprises:

• an input interface for receiving the captured multichannel sound signal;
• a processing circuit containing a processor and configured to control:
• a source separation processing module applied to the captured multichannel sound signal in order to obtain a separation matrix and a set of M sound components, where M≥N;
• a calculator configured to calculate a set of bivariate first descriptors, representative of statistical relationships between pairs of the obtained set of M sound components and a set of univariate second descriptors, representative of encoding characteristics of the sound components of the obtained set of M sound components;
• a classification module configured to classify the sound components of the obtained set of M sound components into classes of sound components, comprising a first class of N sound components as direct components corresponding to the N direct sound sources and a second class of M-N sound components a reverberant components, the classification module using a calculation of a probability of belonging to one of the first or second classes, the calculation of the probability depending on the set of bivariate first descriptors and the set of univariate second descriptors;
• an output interface configured to deliver information about the first class and the second class.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program comprising code instructions for executing a method of processing sound data in order to separate N sound sources of a multichannel sound signal captured in a real environment, when the code instructions are executed by a processor of a sound data processing device, wherein the code instructions configure the sound data processing device to:

• receive the captured multichannel sound signal;
• apply source separation processing to the captured multichannel sound signal and obtaining a separation matrix and a set of M sound components, where M≥N;
• calculate a set of bivariate first descriptors, representative of statistical relationships between pairs of the obtained set of M sound components;
• calculate a set of univariate second descriptors, representative of encoding characteristics of the sound components of the obtained set of M sound components;
• classify the sound components of the obtained set of M sound components into classes of sound components, comprising a first class of N sound components as direct components corresponding to the N direct sound sources and a second class of M-N sound components as reverberant components, the classifying being performed by using a calculation of a probability of belonging to one of the first or second classes, the calculation of the probability depending on the of bivariate first descriptors and the set of univariate second descriptors;
• and
• deliver information about the first class and the second class on an output interface.