Method to remove talker interference to noise estimator
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsJae Lee, Priya Kasirajan, Leng Ooi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides systems and method for determining a background noise level. The device may receive audio from two or more microphones. The audio may include a first signal and a second signal, such that each microphone receives its own signal. The time, loudness, frequency of the first and second signals may be compared to determine the source of the audio, such as whether the audio is the user's voice or background noise. Based on the source of the audio, the audio may be suppressed to reduce false estimations when calculating the background noise level.
Claims21
A method for determining a background noise level, the method comprising:
- receiving, by one or more processors, a first audio signal from a first microphone and a second audio signal from a second microphone;
- receiving, by the one or more processors, an accelerometer signal from one or more accelerometers, the accelerometer signal comprising at least one frequency;
- classifying, by the one or more processors and based on the at least one frequency, a type of activity of the user, the type of activity selected from among a plurality of types of activities, each of the plurality of types of activities corresponding with a frequency range;
- comparing, by the one or more processors, the first audio signal and the second audio signal;
- determining, by the one or more processors and based on the comparison, whether the source of the received first audio signal is a speech of a user or a background noise;
- determining, by the one or more processors and based on the classified type of activity, whether the user is talking;
- and
- responsive to a determination that the user is talking, suppressing, by the one or more processors, the first audio signal from the first microphone, the suppressed first audio signal configured to create an effect of receiving the first audio signal through a beamformer microphone that is beamformed in a direction away from or toward a mouth of the user.
A device comprising:
- one or more accelerometers;
- a first microphone;
- a second microphone;
- and
- one or more processors in communication with the first microphone, the second microphone, and the one or more accelerometers, the one or more processors configured to:
- receive a first audio signal from the first microphone and a second audio signal from the second microphone;
- receive an accelerometer signal from the one or more accelerometers, the accelerometer signal comprising at least one frequency;
- classify, based on the at least one frequency, a type of activity of the user, the type of activity selected from among a plurality of types of activities, each of the plurality of types of activities corresponding with a frequency range;
- compare the first audio signal and the second audio signal;
- determine, based on the classified type of activity, whether a user is talking;
- determine, based on the comparison, whether a source of the first audio signal is a speech of the user;
- and
- responsive to a determination that the user is talking, suppress the first audio signal from the first microphone, the suppressed first audio signal configured to create an effect of receiving the audio through a beamformer microphone that is beamformed in a direction away from or toward a mouth of the user.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
- receive a first audio signal from a first microphone and a second audio signal from a second microphone;
- receive an accelerometer signal from one or more accelerometers, the accelerometer signal comprising at least one frequency;
- classify, based on the at least one frequency, a type of activity of the user, the type of activity selected from among a plurality of types of activities, each of the plurality of types of activities corresponding with a frequency range;
- compare the first audio signal and the second audio signal;
- determine, based on the classified type of activity, whether a user is talking;
- determine, based on the comparison, whether a source of the first audio signal is a speech of the user;
- and
- responsive to a determination that the user is talking, suppress the first audio signal from the first microphone, the suppressed first audio signal configured to create an effect of receiving the audio through a beamformer microphone that is beamformed in a direction away from or toward a mouth of the user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.